Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 106,785 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $17,071,000.
Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $4,186,811,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $706,799,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1,373.2% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,631,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $740,462,000 after buying an additional 4,317,526 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $638,589,000. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after buying an additional 3,240,190 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.
Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.3%
Shares of YUM stock opened at $150.58 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $153.43 and a 200 day moving average of $155.53. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $170.14.
Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.49 earnings per share for the current year.
Yum! Brands Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.74%.
Yum! Brands announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $39,972.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 63,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,766,528.65. This represents a 0.41% 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 Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,521.26. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 18,780 shares of company stock valued at $2,940,693 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About Yum! Brands
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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