Hudson Bay Capital Management LP Invests $24.79 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 163,069 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $24,786,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.06% of Yum! Brands at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Saranac Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $154,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 135.3% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 10,506 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,657,000 after acquiring an additional 6,041 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 53,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,146,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446 shares during the period. Syverson Strege & Co increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 1,547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $64,247,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on YUM. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $159.00 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $169.39. The company has a market capitalization of $43.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.21.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

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.