Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Purchased by Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s.

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,557,612 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,120,747,000 after buying an additional 448,393 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,945,791,000 after buying an additional 297,641 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,217,826,000 after acquiring an additional 218,046 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $602,551,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,723,000 after acquiring an additional 40,757 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $153.69 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.91. The stock has a market cap of $42.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.67. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 17.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on YUM. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, December 5th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.38.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total transaction of $3,627,901.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 276 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $42,274.92. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 30,970 shares of company stock worth $4,624,805. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands 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.