Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Purchases 67,950 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 51.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 199,730 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 67,950 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund owned approximately 0.07% of Yum! Brands worth $31,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Econ Financial Services Corp lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the first quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,416,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Augustine Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.12.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $164.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $169.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $153.76 and a 200-day moving average of $156.38.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. 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 payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,521.26. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $44,436.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at $77,482.86. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.