Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) CEO Scott Mezvinsky Sells 268 Shares of Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.64, for a total value of $41,175.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 482 shares in the company, valued at $74,054.48. This represents a 35.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Monday, August 3rd, Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $41,044.20.
• On Wednesday, July 1st, Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $44,436.34.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE YUM opened at $152.08 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.70. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $170.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.74%.

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

Yum! Brands News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut sale streamlines the portfolio: Yum! Brands completed the sale of Pizza Hut outside Mainland China to LongRange Capital for approximately $1.5 billion, with an additional potential $75 million earn-out through 2030. The divestiture gives management more resources to focus on Taco Bell, KFC and other higher-growth businesses. Yum! Brands Completes Sale of Pizza Hut to LongRange Capital
• Positive Sentiment: Taco Bell expands in the UAE: Yum! Brands’ franchise partner Americana Restaurants signed an agreement to launch Taco Bell in the United Arab Emirates. The move expands the brand’s international footprint and could provide a long-term source of unit and royalty growth. Americana Restaurants signs deal to launch Taco Bell in UAE
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO stock sale was planned: CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares worth approximately $41,176, reducing his holdings by 35.7%. Because the transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, it is less likely to represent a discretionary negative view of YUM’s valuation or outlook. SEC Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain cautious about Pizza Hut’s turnaround: The divestiture removes a slower-growing or challenged brand from Yum!’s consolidated portfolio, but it also reduces revenue diversification. Pizza Hut will now pursue its turnaround under private-equity ownership, while reports that Eduardo Luz is serving as interim CEO add uncertainty around the transition. The broader transaction, including the separate Mainland China deal, totals approximately $2.7 billion. Yum has sold Pizza Hut for $1.5B

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings cut Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 15,378.9% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 70,142,092 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,212,915,000 after buying an additional 69,688,945 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,186,811,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $706,799,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1,373.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,631,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $740,462,000 after acquiring an additional 4,317,526 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $638,589,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.