Fox Run Management L.L.C. Cuts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Fox Run Management L.L.C. lowered its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 49.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,111 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, December 5th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 14,414 shares of company stock worth $2,332,265 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.4%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $168.01 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $169.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $157.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $151.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

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.