Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 3,501 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $560,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Steph & Co. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $154.74 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $153.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.91. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $170.14. The stock has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Argus cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.65.

Yum! Brands News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Robert W. Baird upgraded YUM to “strong buy,” providing a bullish counterpoint to other recent rating changes. Analyst ratings and beef tariff article
• Positive Sentiment: A temporary 90-day waiver on beef import tariffs could reduce input costs for fast-food operators, potentially benefiting Yum!’s KFC and Taco Bell businesses, although the impact may be limited and temporary. Beef tariff waiver article
• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut launched a football-season marketing campaign with Pepsi and Josh Allen, alongside promotional meal deals, which could support near-term customer traffic and sales. Pizza Hut football campaign

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $39,972.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 63,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,766,528.65. The trade was a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 7,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $1,219,227.15. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,831,674. This trade represents a 39.96% decrease in their position. 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 sold 19,043 shares of company stock valued at $2,978,180 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Yum! Brands

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.