Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 481,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $76,909,000. Yum! Brands accounts for about 8.7% of Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,186,811,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $706,799,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,938,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,190 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $297,591,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $272,794,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on YUM. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $157.42 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $170.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.97.

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

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 buy up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the firm’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 $39,972.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 63,771 shares in the company, valued at $9,766,528.65. This trade represents a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total transaction of $552,052.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474. This represents a 99.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,043 shares of company stock worth $2,978,180. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.