CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. Invests $64.25 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 422,677 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $64,247,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Yum! Brands at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% during the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 833.3% during the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE:YUM opened at $163.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.16. The stock has a market cap of $45.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.53, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.61 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $47,149.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,607.94. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.