Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Get Free Report) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.
Yum! Brands Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $3.02 on Tuesday, reaching $157.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,734,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,096,006. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $154.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.74. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.57.
Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Yum! Brands Announces Dividend
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages recently commented on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.12.
Insider Activity
In related news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $39,997.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,522,735.48. This represents a 0.42% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.
Key Headlines Impacting Yum! Brands
Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands agreed to sell Pizza Hut outside mainland China to LongRange Capital and Pizza Hut’s mainland China business to Yum China, simplifying the portfolio and sharpening the company’s focus on stronger brands. Reuters article
- Positive Sentiment: The board approved an additional $4 billion share repurchase authorization, signaling management expects to return a meaningful portion of the sale proceeds to shareholders. RTTNews article
- Positive Sentiment: The transaction could improve Yum’s growth profile and margins by exiting a struggling chain that has been losing market share and weighing on earnings. CNBC article
- Neutral Sentiment: Yum! Brands also showcased a broader refresh at KFC, including new menu items, drinks, branding, and store concepts, which supports the long-term strategy but is not an immediate earnings catalyst. Fox Business article
- Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen reaffirmed a Buy rating and raised its price target to $180, reinforcing a constructive analyst view on the stock. Benzinga article
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.
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