Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 17,032 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,019,387 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 17,032 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.37% of Yum! Brands worth $158,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,938,139,000 after buying an additional 3,240,190 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,164,814 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,991,573,000 after acquiring an additional 124,720 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,334,427,000 after acquiring an additional 121,304 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $706,799,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,471,127 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $676,392,000 after acquiring an additional 104,512 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $44,436.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,482.86. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $148.82 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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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