Markel Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Markel Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 245,213 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,762 shares during the quarter. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $38,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 339.2% during the 1st quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 6,461 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 4,990 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the first quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 19,756 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,072,000 after buying an additional 1,455 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.6% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,470 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,494,000 after buying an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 22.4% in the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 2,369 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YUM. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings cut Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $39,997.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at $9,522,735.48. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 12,423 shares of company stock worth $1,953,721 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock traded up $1.19 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $163.57. 1,847,140 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,285,954. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $170.14. The firm has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $154.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.84.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.72 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

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

Yum! Brands Company 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.