R Squared Ltd Purchases Shares of 2,733 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• R Squared Ltd acquired 2,733 shares of Yum! Brands, valued at approximately $405,000, as part of their investment strategy in the second quarter.
• Yum! Brands reported earnings of $1.44 per share for the recent quarter, slightly missing expectations, with total revenue of $1.93 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.0%, with a dividend payout ratio of 56.02%.

R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,733 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $405,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,367,427,000 after buying an additional 483,918 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,098,801 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $330,267,000 after buying an additional 53,326 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 13.1% in the second quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,063,179 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $305,722,000 after buying an additional 238,615 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,954,145 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $307,504,000 after buying an additional 27,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 28.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $305,286,000 after buying an additional 430,511 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $143.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $147.35 and a 200 day moving average of $146.26. The stock has a market cap of $39.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total value of $1,074,964.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $167.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Melius assumed coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $163.14.

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.

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