Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Stock Position Lifted by Horizon Investments LLC

Horizon Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 28.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,867 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 6,605 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,888 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in Yum! Brands by 19.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 4.5% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,609,000 after purchasing an additional 11,532 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in Yum! Brands by 2.5% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 430,416 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $65,423,000 after purchasing an additional 10,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $24,786,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Yum! Brands News

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat and margin upside — Yum reported Q1 EPS of $1.50 (above estimates) with revenue up ~15% and a large profit jump; digital sales reached a record (~63% of system sales), supporting better-than-expected fundamentals. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Taco Bell strength and improving visibility — Analysts (Morgan Stanley coverage cited) highlight Taco Bell’s continued comp strength and loyalty/digital engagement gains as drivers of near-term visibility and growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: KFC global expansion and delivery gains — Management and industry write-ups point to KFC fueling international growth, helping the company’s top-line and margin mix. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price-target moves are modestly supportive but ratings remain conservative — Citi and Wells Fargo raised price targets slightly but maintain neutral/equal-weight ratings, limiting immediate bullish catalyst strength. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales executed under 10b5‑1 plans — CEO Scott Mezvinsky and CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold shares (pre-arranged plans); such filings can create near-term selling pressure but are less informative about company fundamentals. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Pizza Hut lagging — Coverage highlights Pizza Hut’s continued underperformance, which can blunt overall company upside and keep investors cautious until a clearer turnaround is visible. Read More.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $158.17 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.63. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.51, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $40,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,552 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,359,304.96. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 14,665 shares of company stock worth $2,374,563. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $176.06.

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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