5,408 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Purchased by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 5,408 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $859,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steph & Co. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.2%

YUM stock opened at $144.89 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $170.14. The stock has a market cap of $39.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $153.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.09.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $44,436.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,482.86. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,549 shares of company stock valued at $2,890,168. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Argus lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.65.

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.