Natixis Advisors L.P. Raises Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 442,414 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,115 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned approximately 0.16% of Yum! Brands worth $57,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 121.8% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,819,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $227,367,000 after buying an additional 999,443 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 79.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,208,137 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $150,945,000 after purchasing an additional 533,321 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 129.5% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 769,543 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $96,147,000 after purchasing an additional 434,284 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $36,663,000. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,766,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $720,485,000 after purchasing an additional 210,238 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.5 %

YUM stock traded down $0.73 during trading on Friday, hitting $134.34. The company had a trading volume of 2,421,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,007,162. The firm has a market cap of $37.82 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $138.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.42.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 5th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.31.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.