Ketron Financial Invests $5.25 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Ketron Financial bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 34,733 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $5,254,000. Yum! Brands makes up about 1.7% of Ketron Financial’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $706,799,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in Yum! Brands by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,190 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $272,794,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,183,964 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $632,950,000 after buying an additional 1,240,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $168,604,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.2%

YUM stock opened at $152.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $154.82 and a 200-day moving average of $155.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $169.39. The company has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on YUM. Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.12.

Yum! Brands News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: The Pizza Hut divestiture could simplify Yum! Brands’ portfolio, reduce a long-running drag on growth, and allow management to concentrate capital and attention on higher-performing brands like KFC and Taco Bell, which many investors see as the company’s core growth engines.
• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands also authorized a $4 billion share repurchase plan, which signals management confidence and could support earnings per share if executed over time.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators noted that the sale may unlock value and improve flexibility, but views remain mixed on whether the stock is already fairly valued after recent gains.
• Negative Sentiment: Pizza Hut was sold after a prolonged demand slump, underscoring weakness in one of Yum! Brands’ key legacy concepts and raising questions about the pace of growth the company can deliver without it.
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts still see valuation as a near-term limit on upside, suggesting the stock may not rerate sharply even after the portfolio cleanup.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $38,664.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at $71,551.62. This trade represents a 35.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,695.20. This trade represents a 48.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.