Capital World Investors Has $108.37 Million Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Capital World Investors trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 79.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 712,961 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,696,373 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors owned approximately 0.26% of Yum! Brands worth $108,370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 695,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $105,649,000 after buying an additional 8,888 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Yum! Brands by 115.8% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $197,013,000 after buying an additional 703,891 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in Yum! Brands by 19.7% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $52,804,000 after buying an additional 57,112 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,382,000 after acquiring an additional 713,167 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,609,000 after acquiring an additional 11,532 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $156.56 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $169.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $158.35 and a 200-day moving average of $151.71.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. This trade represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $47,149.68. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.50.

Yum! Brands News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut rolled out “Hut Crust,” a marketing and menu push (new Hand?Tossed recipe + $10 large three?topping offer) aimed at driving traffic and mix improvement — a consumer-facing initiative that can help sales and franchisee cash flow. PIZZA HUT LAUNCHES HUT CRUST PLATFORM FOR CRUST LOVERS & SETS OUT TO HIRE FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND HUT CRUST CONNOISSEUR
• Positive Sentiment: Yum!’s reported Q4 strength (revenue and comp-sales beats, operating profit up, and ~4,500 net new restaurant openings across KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut) reinforces its scalable, franchise?led growth story and supports medium?term earnings upside. Did Yum!’s Q4 Beat and 4,500 New Openings Just Shift Yum! Brands’ (YUM) Investment Narrative?
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector & earnings roundups put Yum! in context with peers — useful framing for investors but not an immediate catalyst. Q4 Earnings Roundup: Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) And The Rest Of The Traditional Fast Food Segment
• Neutral Sentiment: Franchisee-level activity in key markets (Collins Foods acquiring KFC outlets in Germany; Devyani consolidating subsidiaries in India) signals brand expansion via partners — positive for global footprint but has limited immediate impact on YUM’s corporate earnings. Collins Foods to acquire eight KFC outlets in Germany Devyani International to merge three subsidiaries with parent company
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage highlighting Yum!’s underperformance vs. the Dow and relative weakness over the past year is pressuring sentiment — analysts remain moderately upbeat, but valuation (P/E ~28) and comparisons to faster-growing peers leave limited room for error, contributing to today’s pullback. Is Yum! Brands Stock Underperforming the Dow? Is Yum! Brands Stock Underperforming the Dow? (Yahoo)

Yum! Brands 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.