OFI Invest Asset Management Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• OFI Invest opened a new position in Yum! Brands by buying 154,679 shares worth about $23.4 million, representing roughly 0.06% ownership per its SEC filing.
• Yum! reported quarterly EPS of $1.73 (missing estimates by $0.03) with revenue of $2.52 billion, and recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.75 (annualized $3.00, ~1.9% yield).
• Wall Street sentiment is moderately positive (average rating "Moderate Buy" and average price target $174.53), while insiders have sold about 14,138 shares valued at roughly $2.29 million in the past 90 days, including a 12,000-share sale by Aaron Powell.

OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 154,679 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $23,400,000. OFI Invest Asset Management owned 0.06% of Yum! Brands as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 695,059 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $105,649,000 after buying an additional 8,888 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in Yum! Brands by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $52,804,000 after buying an additional 57,112 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,609,000 after buying an additional 11,532 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 430,416 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $65,423,000 after buying an additional 10,632 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 126.1% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 29,192 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,326,000 after purchasing an additional 16,282 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $160.50 on Thursday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $159.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.27. The firm has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.66. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. Yum! Brands's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on Yum! Brands and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "overweight" rating and set a $179.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Oppenheimer cut Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $174.53.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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