United Bank Purchases 4,716 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 122.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,716 shares during the quarter. United Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 569,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $86,197,000 after purchasing an additional 31,836 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 584,953 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $88,030,000 after purchasing an additional 30,075 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,264,000. Ethos Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $1,372,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $24,786,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $44,452.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,511.84. The trade was a 36.45% 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 have sold 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $1.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $163.57. 1,847,140 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,285,954. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $154.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.84. The company has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Yum! Brands announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.