Coldstream Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Coldstream Capital Management nearly doubled its Yum! Brands stake in the fourth quarter, increasing its holdings by 98.8% to 18,763 shares valued at about $2.84 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with hedge funds and other investors holding 82.37% of Yum! Brands shares; several other firms also raised or initiated positions in the stock.
• Yum! Brands reported solid quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while analysts currently maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $176.22. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share.

Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 98.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,763 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 9,325 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,609,000 after purchasing an additional 11,532 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $52,804,000 after buying an additional 57,112 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 430,416 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $65,423,000 after buying an additional 10,632 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $24,786,000. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 89.8% during the fourth quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 20,098 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,040,000 after acquiring an additional 9,509 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $40,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,552 shares in the company, valued at $10,359,304.96. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,890 shares of company stock worth $451,123. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $176.22.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $155.24 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $169.39. The stock's fifty day moving average is $157.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 EPS. The business's revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

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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