Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Acquires 3,319 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,319 shares during the quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, CNB Bank boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 833.3% during the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $154.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $169.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.64.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.05%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $40,176.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $179.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.