Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 430,511 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 28.5%, owning approximately 1.94 million shares worth over $305 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Yum! Brands reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.44, falling short of analyst expectations and reflecting a 9.6% increase in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.9%, to be paid on September 12th to investors of record as of September 2nd.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 28.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 430,511 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.70% of Yum! Brands worth $305,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,749 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $126,746,000 after purchasing an additional 19,210 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 71.7% during the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 10,707 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 4,472 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $886,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 99.7% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 3,195 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,284 shares of company stock valued at $4,310,663. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE YUM traded up $0.33 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $147.22. 1,664,946 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,300,405. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $146.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $148.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.86 billion, a PE ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.