Capital International Investors Purchases 487,069 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Capital International Investors bought an additional 487,069 Yum! Brands shares in Q3 (a 3.1% increase), bringing its total to 16,179,636 shares — a 5.83% stake valued at about $2.46 billion.
• Yum! missed EPS by $0.03 in the most recent quarter ($1.73 vs. $1.76) but beat on revenue ($2.52B, up 6.4% year-over-year), and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.75 (annualized $3.00, ~1.9% yield).
• The stock carries a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with a $174.50 average price target, while insiders sold roughly 14,138 shares (~$2.29M) last quarter, including the CEO's sale of 12,000 shares.

Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,179,636 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 487,069 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors owned 5.83% of Yum! Brands worth $2,459,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its position in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $179.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $159.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $158.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $151.59. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, 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 transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,365,096. This trade represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $47,149.68. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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