Capital International Inc. CA Grows Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Capital International Inc. CA grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 364,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,179 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $55,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the 3rd 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 period. CNB Bank grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 833.3% during the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $40,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $47,149.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $159.83 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.61 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. 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 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

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.