Pensionfund Sabic Makes New $1.36 Million Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new stake of 9,000 shares in Yum! Brands during Q4, valued at about $1.36 million, as institutional investors now own roughly 82.37% of the company.
• Yum! Brands reported quarterly EPS of $1.73 (missing estimates by $0.03) with revenue of $2.52 billion, up 6.4% year-over-year, and increased its quarterly dividend to $0.75 (annualized $3.00, ~1.9% yield).
• Insiders have sold about 14,138 shares (~$2.29M) in the last 90 days, while analysts’ consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $174.50; YUM trades near $159 with a market cap around $44B.

Pensionfund Sabic acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 9,000 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,362,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $159.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.62. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 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 $40,176.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,840,607.94. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays set a $185.00 price target on Yum! Brands and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a "positive" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.

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