Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) CEO Sells $265,383.56 in Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Scott Mezvinsky also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, December 1st, Scott Mezvinsky sold 276 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $42,274.92.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded down $0.61 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $159.96. The company had a trading volume of 406,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,086,091. The company has a fifty day moving average of $154.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $149.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.66. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $165.32.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on YUM. Barclays set a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 504,878 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,428,000 after buying an additional 22,409 shares during the last quarter. Atom Investors LP bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $2,577,000. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 1,690 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 106,894 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,171,000 after purchasing an additional 8,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 37.8% during the 4th quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 15,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,283 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.