Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Key Points

• Yum! Brands reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.44, which missed the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.02. The company's revenue also fell slightly short at $1.93 billion against expectations of $1.94 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71, yielding 2.0%, and has a payout ratio of 56.57%.
• Yum! Brands has seen significant insider trading activity, with CEOs selling portions of their stock holdings, indicating potential changes in management alignment or confidence.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02), Zacks reports. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.2%

Yum! Brands stock traded up $1.74 during trading on Thursday, hitting $143.08. The stock had a trading volume of 182,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,146,642. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The stock's 50 day moving average is $145.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.61. The stock has a market cap of $39.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,720 shares of company stock worth $2,150,965. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Yum! Brands stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on YUM. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 price target (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday. TD Securities reissued a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.