Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Stock Holdings Increased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 30.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,714 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 30,399 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $17,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $959,600.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,307,396.90. This trade represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $146.24.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:YUM traded down $0.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $125.31. The stock had a trading volume of 1,604,917 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,476,485. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The firm's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

Yum! Brands 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.