Capital International Investors Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,179,636 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 487,069 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors owned approximately 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $2,459,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 29.5% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 381,619 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,006,000 after acquiring an additional 86,952 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,248,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $341,721,000 after acquiring an additional 129,966 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 109.2% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 24,055 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,657,000 after purchasing an additional 12,557 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 62,846 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,553,000 after purchasing an additional 7,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fieldview Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at about $450,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of YUM opened at $159.83 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $158.11 and a 200 day moving average of $151.59. The company has a market cap of $44.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were given a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.