PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators Purchases New Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 61,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $9,280,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.5% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,609,000 after acquiring an additional 11,532 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 584,953 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $88,030,000 after acquiring an additional 30,075 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at about $24,786,000. Ethos Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,372,000. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 89.8% during the fourth quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 20,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,040,000 after acquiring an additional 9,509 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $150.78 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $155.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Yum Brands is weighing an exit from Pizza Hut are boosting the stock on hopes that divesting the weaker pizza chain could sharpen execution and improve margins. Pizza Hut’s future in doubt as Yum Brands weighs exit and surprise company eyes takeover
• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer also argued that “a Yum free of Pizza Hut” could trade higher, reinforcing the market’s view that a possible sale would be a value-creating move for YUM. Jim Cramer Believes “A Yum Free of Pizza Hut Is a Yum That’s Going to Trade Much Higher”
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary raised Yum’s fair value estimate and cited stronger KFC and Taco Bell fundamentals, suggesting the stock may still have upside if the Pizza Hut situation is resolved favorably. How The Investment Story Is Shifting For Yum Brands (YUM) After New Targets And Pizza Hut Talks
• Neutral Sentiment: Yum announced that COO and Chief People Officer Tracy Skeans will retire after 25 years, a leadership change that adds some succession-planning focus but is not clearly a major business setback. Yum Brands COO Tracy Skeans stepping down after 25 years with the company
• Neutral Sentiment: Separate coverage repeated the retirement news, keeping the focus on management transition rather than a change in near-term operating results. Yum Brands COO and chief people officer to retire after 25 years with the company

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $531,544. This trade represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $39,997.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at $9,522,735.48. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock worth $906,499. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $186.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.17.

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.