Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) CEO Aaron Powell Sells 6,001 Shares of Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,521.26. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $161.46 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $153.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.29. The firm has a market cap of $44.50 billion, a PE ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 48.39%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.12.

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.