Fundsmith LLP Acquires New Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Fundsmith LLP acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 556,107 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $88,899,000. Yum! Brands accounts for 0.7% of Fundsmith LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Fundsmith LLP owned approximately 0.20% of Yum! Brands at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Quantitative Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth about $584,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,022,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 23.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 30,580 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,889,000 after acquiring an additional 5,818 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 13,772 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 8,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, July 31st. One 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $154.08 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $42.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a 50 day moving average of $153.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.79. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued 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 payout ratio is 37.74%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction 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 approximately $77,482.86. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 7,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $1,219,227.15. Following the sale, the vice president owned 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,831,674. This trade represents a 39.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,512 shares of company stock worth $2,899,517. Insiders own 0.14% 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.