Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,366,926 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 341,142 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands makes up about 1.5% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $2,324,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Jessup Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.2%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $152.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $154.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $169.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

Key Headlines Impacting Yum! Brands

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

• Positive Sentiment: The Pizza Hut divestiture could simplify Yum! Brands’ portfolio, reduce a long-running drag on growth, and allow management to concentrate capital and attention on higher-performing brands like KFC and Taco Bell, which many investors see as the company’s core growth engines.
• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands also authorized a $4 billion share repurchase plan, which signals management confidence and could support earnings per share if executed over time.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators noted that the sale may unlock value and improve flexibility, but views remain mixed on whether the stock is already fairly valued after recent gains.
• Negative Sentiment: Pizza Hut was sold after a prolonged demand slump, underscoring weakness in one of Yum! Brands’ key legacy concepts and raising questions about the pace of growth the company can deliver without it.
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts still see valuation as a near-term limit on upside, suggesting the stock may not rerate sharply even after the portfolio cleanup.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $531,544. The trade was a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $39,997.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,522,735.48. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.12.

Yum! Brands 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.