Plato Investment Management Ltd Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 5,408 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $859,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $65,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $1,108,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $404,000. Peachtree Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $277,000. Finally, Arrowroot Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $260,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Argus decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.2%

YUM opened at $144.89 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $170.14. The company has a market cap of $39.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50 day moving average of $153.57 and a 200 day moving average of $156.09.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The company had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,521.26. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,549 shares of company stock worth $2,890,168. Company insiders own 0.14% 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.