Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 103,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $16,610,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Steph & Co. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 7,961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $1,219,227.15. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,831,674. The trade was a 39.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,521.26. This trade represents a 33.33% 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 90 days, insiders have sold 19,043 shares of company stock valued at $2,978,180. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $154.08 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $170.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $153.48 and its 200 day moving average is $155.81. The company has a market capitalization of $42.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Yum! Brands declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 37.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Argus decreased their price target 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, August 17th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.