PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab Acquires 5,300 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,992 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,300 shares during the period. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Steph & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 63,771 shares in the company, valued at $9,766,528.65. The trade was a 0.41% 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 have sold a total of 20,386 shares of company stock valued at $3,169,392 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $150.60 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $153.78 and a 200-day moving average of $156.43. The firm has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a PE ratio of 18.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS 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 net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 37.74%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Yum! Brands

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.