Composition Wealth LLC Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Composition Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1,081.9% in Q4 to 24,347 shares valued at $3.68M, and institutional investors now own about 82.37% of the stock after several large funds increased positions.
• Yum! reported a Q1 beat with EPS $1.50 vs. $1.39 and revenue up ~15% (digital sales ~63% of system sales), while analysts collectively rate the stock a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $176.06.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.75 ($3.00 annualized, ~1.9% yield) even as insiders executed small sales under pre-arranged Rule 10b5‑1 plans.

Composition Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 1,081.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,347 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 22,287 shares during the quarter. Composition Wealth LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,683,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,356,869,000 after buying an additional 684,946 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,179,636 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,459,940,000 after buying an additional 487,069 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,348,846 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $509,025,000 after buying an additional 176,221 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,943,187 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $447,364,000 after buying an additional 153,459 shares during the period. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.0% during the third quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 2,735,106 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $415,736,000 after buying an additional 104,336 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on YUM. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $179.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $176.06.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $158.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61. The company's 50 day moving average is $159.77 and its 200 day moving average is $154.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. Yum! Brands's revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 48.39%.

Yum! Brands News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat and margin upside — Yum reported Q1 EPS of $1.50 (above estimates) with revenue up ~15% and a large profit jump; digital sales reached a record (~63% of system sales), supporting better-than-expected fundamentals. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Taco Bell strength and improving visibility — Analysts (Morgan Stanley coverage cited) highlight Taco Bell’s continued comp strength and loyalty/digital engagement gains as drivers of near-term visibility and growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: KFC global expansion and delivery gains — Management and industry write-ups point to KFC fueling international growth, helping the company’s top-line and margin mix. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price-target moves are modestly supportive but ratings remain conservative — Citi and Wells Fargo raised price targets slightly but maintain neutral/equal-weight ratings, limiting immediate bullish catalyst strength. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales executed under 10b5‑1 plans — CEO Scott Mezvinsky and CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold shares (pre-arranged plans); such filings can create near-term selling pressure but are less informative about company fundamentals. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Pizza Hut lagging — Coverage highlights Pizza Hut’s continued underperformance, which can blunt overall company upside and keep investors cautious until a clearer turnaround is visible. Read More.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $40,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,359,304.96. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,665 shares of company stock worth $2,374,563. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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