Renaissance Technologies LLC Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $684,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors increased its position 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 valued at $2,938,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,240,190 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,164,814 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,991,573,000 after purchasing an additional 124,720 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,334,427,000 after purchasing an additional 121,304 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $706,799,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,471,127 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $676,392,000 after purchasing an additional 104,512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,522,735.48. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $44,436.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,482.86. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. 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 18,549 shares of company stock valued at $2,890,168 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on YUM. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.31.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $148.21 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $170.14. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.22. The stock has a market cap of $40.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors 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 buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are 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.