Aristides Capital LLC Cuts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Aristides Capital LLC cut its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 28.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,317 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,973 shares during the quarter. Aristides Capital LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Steph & Co. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on YUM. Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.81.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,423 shares of company stock worth $1,953,721. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $147.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.77. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $170.14. The firm has a market cap of $40.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

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

Key Stories Impacting Yum! Brands

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

• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands continues to make leadership changes, appointing Nai De Leon as Chief People & Culture Officer, which may help support long-term organizational execution and culture. Yum! Brands (YUM) Appoints Nai De Leon As People Chief In Leadership Shift
• Neutral Sentiment: Valvoline elected Scott Mezvinsky, CEO of Yum! Brands’ KFC division, to its board, underscoring his broader industry profile but creating no direct change to Yum’s operations. Katherine Fogertey and Scott Mezvinsky Elected to Valvoline Inc. Board of Directors
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and preview pieces say Yum’s upcoming earnings are expected to grow, but they also warn the company may not have the right setup for an earnings beat, keeping sentiment mixed ahead of results. Yum Brands (YUM) Earnings Expected to Grow: Should You Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: Taco Bell’s cyclosporiasis outbreak is still weighing on traffic, with reports that visits dropped sharply after the lettuce-linked illness scare; that raises concern about near-term sales at one of Yum’s key brands. Cyclosporiasis outbreak hits Taco Bell sales, unlikely to cause lasting scar, analysts say
• Negative Sentiment: Taco Bell is trying to win back customers with a $1 Enchirito promotion, which suggests management is responding to softer demand from the outbreak-related backlash. Taco Bell Offers $1 Lettuce-Free Enchirito to Win Back Customers Post-Parasite

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.