Insider Selling: Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) CEO Sells $32,990.49 in Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.89, for a total value of $32,990.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 482 shares in the company, valued at $65,980.98. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Tuesday, September 1st, Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.64, for a total transaction of $41,175.52.
• On Monday, August 3rd, Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $41,044.20.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock traded up $0.67 during trading on Thursday, hitting $137.01. 759,936 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,144,896. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.26 and a 52 week high of $170.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.84.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 37.74%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $4,186,811,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,190 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1,373.2% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,631,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $740,462,000 after purchasing an additional 4,317,526 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $638,589,000. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,055,883 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $311,014,000 after buying an additional 15,649 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Seaport Research Partners started coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $162.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $175.00 in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.11.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that develops, operates, and franchises quick-service restaurants. Its portfolio includes KFC, which specializes in fried and cooked chicken; Taco Bell, known for Mexican-inspired food; Pizza Hut, which offers pizza and related products; and The Habit Burger Grill, a fast-casual chain focused on chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, salads, and shakes.

The company primarily uses a franchised business model, working with franchisees and licensees to operate restaurants in more than 150 countries and territories.