Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Bought by USS Investment Management Ltd

Key Points

• USS Investment Management Ltd increased its Yum! Brands stake by 3.5% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 974,960 shares worth about $151.6 million.
• Wall Street sentiment on Yum! Brands remains constructive, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $176.12 across analysts.
• The company reported solid quarterly results, beating EPS estimates, and it recently paid a $0.75 quarterly dividend while authorizing a $4 billion share buyback program.

USS Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 974,960 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 33,235 shares during the period. Yum! Brands comprises 0.6% of USS Investment Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. USS Investment Management Ltd owned approximately 0.35% of Yum! Brands worth $151,606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Steph & Co. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Jessup Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $176.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $39,997.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,522,735.48. The trade was a 0.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 261 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $38,664.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares of the company's stock, valued at $71,551.62. This trade represents a 35.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock worth $906,499. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $159.88 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $156.19. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $169.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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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