Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by Waverly Advisors LLC

Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 30.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,408 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,347 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $157.04 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $170.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $153.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $40,105.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,272,013.44. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $531,544. This represents a 34.44% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,896 shares of company stock worth $1,869,148. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands reported adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share, exceeding the $1.58–$1.59 analyst consensus. Revenue rose 12.2% year over year to $2.17 billion, broadly in line with expectations, while GAAP EPS reached $3.08. Yum Brands Reports Second-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Taco Bell was the main earnings driver, with strong sales, restaurant-level margins, and continued international expansion helping offset weaker performance at Pizza Hut. The result suggests the company entered the quarter with solid operating momentum. Yum Brands Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Taco Bell Strength
• Positive Sentiment: Management said Taco Bell traffic and sales are beginning to recover after the company removed affected lettuce and communicated its response to consumers. Discounts and new menu items are being used to rebuild visits and customer trust. Taco Bell Parent Company Says Sales Already Recovering
• Neutral Sentiment: The reported quarter ended June 30 and largely predates the cyclospora outbreak, limiting the usefulness of the strong results as a guide to current Taco Bell trends. Cyclospora Outbreak Clouds Strong Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Taco Bell same-store sales declined 2% quarter-to-date through July 27 after a multistate cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce sickened thousands of people. The disruption could pressure near-term sales, marketing costs, and margins. Taco Bell Works to Restore Sales Following Cyclospora Outbreak
• Negative Sentiment: Investors received limited detail about the outbreak’s ultimate financial impact, leaving uncertainty around the pace of recovery and potential reputational or legal liabilities. Yum Brands Reports Mixed Results but Gives No Update on Outbreak

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.81.

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.