Legal & General Group Plc Has $341.72 Million Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.1% to 2,248,162 shares (about $341.72 million), representing roughly 0.81% of the company.
• Operational/financial momentum: Yum! posted Q4 revenue and comp‑sales beats, drove operating profit higher with ~4,500 net new restaurant openings, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.75 (annualized $3.00, ~1.9% yield), supporting its franchise‑led growth outlook.
• Insider selling: Insiders sold 14,138 shares (~$2.29M) in the past three months, including CEO Aaron Powell's 12,000‑share sale (~$1.94M), leaving insiders with about 0.33% ownership.

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,248,162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 129,966 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.81% of Yum! Brands worth $341,721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 3,197 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 1.8% during the third quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 4,085 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $621,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the third quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.5% during the third quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Yum! Brands

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

• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut rolled out "Hut Crust," a marketing and menu push (new Hand‑Tossed recipe + $10 large three‑topping offer) aimed at driving traffic and mix improvement — a consumer-facing initiative that can help sales and franchisee cash flow. PIZZA HUT LAUNCHES HUT CRUST PLATFORM FOR CRUST LOVERS & SETS OUT TO HIRE FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND HUT CRUST CONNOISSEUR
• Positive Sentiment: Yum!’s reported Q4 strength (revenue and comp-sales beats, operating profit up, and ~4,500 net new restaurant openings across KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut) reinforces its scalable, franchise‑led growth story and supports medium‑term earnings upside. Did Yum!'s Q4 Beat and 4,500 New Openings Just Shift Yum! Brands' (YUM) Investment Narrative?
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector & earnings roundups put Yum! in context with peers — useful framing for investors but not an immediate catalyst. Q4 Earnings Roundup: Yum! Brands NYSE: YUM And The Rest Of The Traditional Fast Food Segment
• Neutral Sentiment: Franchisee-level activity in key markets (Collins Foods acquiring KFC outlets in Germany; Devyani consolidating subsidiaries in India) signals brand expansion via partners — positive for global footprint but has limited immediate impact on YUM's corporate earnings. Collins Foods to acquire eight KFC outlets in Germany Devyani International to merge three subsidiaries with parent company
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage highlighting Yum!'s underperformance vs. the Dow and relative weakness over the past year is pressuring sentiment — analysts remain moderately upbeat, but valuation (P/E ~28) and comparisons to faster-growing peers leave limited room for error, contributing to today's pullback. Is Yum! Brands Stock Underperforming the Dow? Is Yum! Brands Stock Underperforming the Dow? (Yahoo)

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the firm'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 $40,176.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. 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 three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $156.56 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $43.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.64. The stock's 50-day moving average is $158.35 and its 200-day moving average is $151.71. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.61 EPS. Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 is presently 54.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays set a $185.00 price target on Yum! Brands and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.50.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding YUM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.