Conscious Wealth Investments LLC Purchases Shares of 27,625 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Conscious Wealth Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 27,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $4,473,000. Yum! Brands accounts for 2.7% of Conscious Wealth Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 569,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $86,197,000 after buying an additional 31,836 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in 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 worth $88,030,000 after acquiring an additional 30,075 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,264,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $24,786,000. Finally, Ethos Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,372,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,511.84. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $39,997.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,522,735.48. This trade 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. Insiders have sold a total of 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $158.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $43.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.57. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The business’s fifty day moving average is $153.74 and its 200-day moving average is $156.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.12.

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.