AMF Tjanstepension AB Increases Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 231.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 551,573 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 385,214 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $85,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 124.5% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,422,000 after buying an additional 83,916 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.0% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,447,000 after purchasing an additional 10,755 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 59.1% during the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Sunday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.12.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $163.57 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $154.51 and a 200-day moving average of $156.85. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $170.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.72 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid 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 dividend yield of 1.8%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.39%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at $531,544. This trade represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, 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 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.