Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Announces $0.71 Quarterly Dividend

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, December 12th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd.

Yum! Brands has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 8 years. Yum! Brands has a dividend payout ratio of 42.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Yum! Brands to earn $6.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.8%.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $150.58 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.32. The stock has a market cap of $41.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.70, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total value of $419,839.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 26,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,010,292. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total transaction of $189,550.53. Following the transaction, the insider owned 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,559.68. The trade was a 95.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 37,870 shares of company stock valued at $5,657,495 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,356,869,000 after acquiring an additional 684,946 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,179,636 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,459,940,000 after purchasing an additional 487,069 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,945,791,000 after buying an additional 297,641 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,217,826,000 after buying an additional 218,046 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $602,551,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.