Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) COO Sells $552,052.00 in Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) COO Tracy Skeans sold 3,494 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total transaction of $552,052.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474. The trade was a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $154.74 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $153.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.91. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $170.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Stories Impacting Yum! Brands

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

• Positive Sentiment: Robert W. Baird upgraded YUM to “strong buy,” providing a bullish counterpoint to other recent rating changes. Analyst ratings and beef tariff article
• Positive Sentiment: A temporary 90-day waiver on beef import tariffs could reduce input costs for fast-food operators, potentially benefiting Yum!’s KFC and Taco Bell businesses, although the impact may be limited and temporary. Beef tariff waiver article
• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut launched a football-season marketing campaign with Pepsi and Josh Allen, alongside promotional meal deals, which could support near-term customer traffic and sales. Pizza Hut football campaign

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 15,378.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 70,142,092 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,212,915,000 after purchasing an additional 69,688,945 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $4,186,811,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,938,139,000 after buying an additional 3,240,190 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,164,814 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,991,573,000 after buying an additional 124,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,334,427,000 after acquiring an additional 121,304 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Argus dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

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.