Cullinan Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM – Free Report) by 24.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 7,839 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $706,799,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,938,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,190 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $272,794,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 42.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,183,964 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $632,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $168,604,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.12.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $40,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,272,013.44. This trade represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.7%
Shares of YUM stock traded up $1.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $163.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,847,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,285,954. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $154.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.84. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $170.14.
Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.39%.
Yum! Brands announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.
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.
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