Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC Sells 7,039 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Orion Portfolio Solutions trimmed its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.6%, selling 7,039 shares and leaving 85,809 shares valued at about $13.04 million, while overall institutional ownership remains high at 82.37% with other large funds (e.g., Amundi, Invesco) increasing positions.
• Company insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares last quarter worth roughly $2.29 million, including a notable 12,000‑share sale by Aaron Powell that cut his holding by 45.03%, leaving insider ownership at about 0.33%.
• Yum! raised its quarterly dividend to $0.75 ($3.00 annual, ~1.9% yield); the latest quarter showed a slight EPS miss ($1.73 vs. $1.76) but 6.4% revenue growth, and analysts hold a consensus “Moderate Buy” with a $174.50 price target.

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lowered its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,809 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 7,039 shares during the quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $13,043,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 695,059 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $105,649,000 after acquiring an additional 8,888 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 115.8% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $197,013,000 after purchasing an additional 703,891 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $52,804,000 after purchasing an additional 57,112 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 34.3% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $413,382,000 after buying an additional 713,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in Yum! Brands by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 430,416 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $65,423,000 after acquiring an additional 10,632 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "positive" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $158.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $43.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $157.82 and a 200-day moving average of $151.42. 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 data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.61 earnings per share. Equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be paid 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 of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

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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