Westpac Banking Corp Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 44,871 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 12,935 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $602,551,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 34.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,382,000 after purchasing an additional 713,167 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 115.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $197,013,000 after purchasing an additional 703,891 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,356,869,000 after purchasing an additional 684,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,306,932 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $341,841,000 after purchasing an additional 609,223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $179.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $165.32 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $169.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.73. The company has a market capitalization of $45.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.79, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,888 shares of company stock worth $2,244,938. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.