Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys 5,818 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 23.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,580 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,818 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steph & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth about $27,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. Weiss Ratings downgraded Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup raised their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.65.

Key Stories Impacting Yum! Brands

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

• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut sale improves portfolio focus: Yum! Brands completed the sale of Pizza Hut operations outside Mainland China to LongRange Capital for approximately $1.5 billion, plus a potential $75 million earn-out. Management can now concentrate capital and resources on Taco Bell, KFC and other higher-growth opportunities. The broader Pizza Hut transactions, including the Mainland China business, have been reported at approximately $2.7 billion. Yum! Brands completes U.S. sale of Pizza Hut
• Positive Sentiment: $4 billion buyback supports shareholder returns: Yum! Brands’ repurchase authorization allows the company to buy back up to roughly 9.4% of its outstanding shares. If executed effectively, the program could reduce share count and provide support for earnings per share, although it also uses capital that could otherwise fund expansion or debt reduction. Dropping the Dough: Yum! Brands Strategically Trims the Fat
• Positive Sentiment: New board expertise: Steve Bratspies, a former HanesBrands chief executive and Walmart senior executive, joined Yum!’s board and its Management Planning and Development Committee. His consumer, retail and merchandising experience may strengthen oversight and succession planning. What Could Steve Bratspies Bring to Yum! Brands
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor conference appearance scheduled: Yum! Brands will participate in the Barclays Annual Global Consumer Conference. The event could provide updates on traffic, franchisee health, international growth and capital allocation, but no new financial outlook was announced. Yum! Brands to Participate in the Barclays Annual Global Consumer Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Planned insider selling: CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares for about $41,176 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature and relatively small dollar value make the transaction a limited signal about management’s view of YUM’s valuation. Yum! Brands CEO sells shares
• Negative Sentiment: Pizza Hut transition carries execution risk: Pizza Hut CEO Aaron Powell resigned around the time of the sale, adding leadership uncertainty as the new owner develops a turnaround plan. The divestiture also reduces Yum!’s revenue diversification, while the fast-food industry continues to face softer traffic. Yum says Pizza Hut CEO Aaron Powell resigns

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total value of $552,052.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 3 shares in the company, valued at $474. This represents a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a 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. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,482.86. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,780 shares of company stock valued at $2,940,693. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE YUM opened at $152.94 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $153.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

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

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.