Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Bought by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 684,946 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Yum! Brands worth $5,356,869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,945,791,000 after buying an additional 297,641 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,217,826,000 after acquiring an additional 218,046 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $602,551,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,723,000 after acquiring an additional 40,757 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 34.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $413,382,000 after purchasing an additional 713,167 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on YUM. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.00.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $161.20 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $155.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.86. The company has a market cap of $44.76 billion, a PE ratio of 29.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.66. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $165.32.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.61 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total value of $265,383.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 13,888 shares of company stock valued at $2,244,938 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.