Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM – Free Report) by 73.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,564 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 10,021 shares during the quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $539,000 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 YUM. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $133,251,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $126,945,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,356,869,000 after buying an additional 684,946 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $86,944,000. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,179,636 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,459,940,000 after buying an additional 487,069 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
More Yum! Brands News
Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings and revenue beat — Yum reported adjusted EPS $1.50 vs. ~$1.38 consensus and revenue $2.06B (up ~15% Y/Y). Management highlighted broad margin improvement and volume gains that drove the upside. YUM Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Taco Bell Sales and Digital Growth
- Positive Sentiment: Taco Bell remains the primary growth engine — Taco Bell posted ~8% same-store-sales growth in Q1 and strong digital adoption, helping offset softer performance elsewhere in the portfolio. That unit-level strength supports margin leverage and franchisee momentum. Taco Bell is the star for Yum! Brands again in Q1
- Positive Sentiment: KFC/global expansion and digital mix are boosting results — KFC’s international growth and record digital sales (reported at a high share of system sales) are cited as key drivers of sales and margin improvement. Expansion adds scale without proportionate corporate cost. Yum Brands takes flight in Q1 as KFC fuels global ascent
- Positive Sentiment: Profit surge and unit growth — Reports note a ~71% jump in reported profit ($432M) and the company opened more than 1,000 net units in the period, reflecting strong franchise momentum and digital-driven sales mix. Yum! Brands Q1 2026 profit jumps 71% to $432m
- Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price-target tweaks — Wells Fargo raised its target to $165 (equal weight) and Citi nudged its target to $175 (neutral). Both lifts signal modest analyst confidence but no consensus upgrade to “overweight.” Benzinga
- Negative Sentiment: Pizza Hut weakness remains a drag — Coverage notes Pizza Hut lagged the portfolio this quarter, which caps consolidated upside and means Yum’s growth is still concentrated in Taco Bell/KFC. That concentration raises execution risk if those brands slow. Yum! Brands (YUM) Stock Surges as Taco Bell Delivers Stellar Q1 Performance
Insider Activity
Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.0%
YUM opened at $159.78 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $169.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.66.
Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Yum! Brands Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.05%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. Oppenheimer downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.83.
View Our Latest Report on Yum! Brands
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.
Further Reading
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