iA Global Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 56.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,014 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,917 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $28,000. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $531,544. This trade represents a 34.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $40,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,359,304.96. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 2,890 shares of company stock valued at $451,123 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $152.19 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $157.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.16. The company has a market cap of $41.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley set a $180.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.22.

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.