Cinctive Capital Management LP Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Cinctive Capital opened a new position in Yum! Brands, buying 141,561 shares valued at about $21.5 million, making YUM roughly 1.0% of its portfolio and its 14th largest holding; institutional investors now own about 82.37% of the stock.
• Insiders have been selling: CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares for roughly $1.94 million, and insiders disposed of 14,138 shares totaling about $2.29 million over the past 90 days (insider ownership is ~0.33%).
• Yum! reported a slight EPS miss but revenue rose 6.4% year-over-year, raised its quarterly dividend to $0.75 ($3.00 annually, ~1.9% yield), and trades at a market cap of ~$44.3 billion with an average analyst target of $174.50 ("Moderate Buy").

Cinctive Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 141,561 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $21,517,000. Yum! Brands makes up approximately 1.0% of Cinctive Capital Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Cinctive Capital Management LP owned 0.05% of Yum! Brands at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $200,000. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 82,957 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $12,609,000 after buying an additional 3,017 shares in the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 8,128 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,235,000 after buying an additional 2,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 167.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 205,036 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $31,165,000 after buying an additional 128,394 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $160.30 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $158.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.88, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $169.39.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on YUM. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Oppenheimer downgraded Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.50.

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.

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