Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) CEO Sells $44,436.34 in Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $44,436.34. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,482.86. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Scott Mezvinsky also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 1st, Scott Mezvinsky sold 261 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $38,664.54.
• On Friday, May 1st, Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $164.20 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.43. The company has a market cap of $45.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Twelve investment 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.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.12.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $706,799,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,190 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $272,794,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 42.2% in 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 acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $168,604,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.