Burney Co. Sells 15,468 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Burney Co. cut its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 27.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 40,533 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 15,468 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after buying an additional 3,240,190 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,164,814 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,991,573,000 after acquiring an additional 124,720 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,334,427,000 after acquiring an additional 121,304 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $706,799,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,471,127 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $676,392,000 after acquiring an additional 104,512 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.6%

YUM opened at $165.77 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $169.39. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $153.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.45. The company has a market cap of $45.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 48.39%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Twelve investment 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.12.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $44,452.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares in the company, valued at $77,511.84. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands 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.