Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Purchased by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 165,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,503 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $25,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 833.3% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on YUM. Morgan Stanley set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays set a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.22.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $151.83 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.88. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $40,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,359,304.96. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,665 shares of company stock worth $437,283 over the last three months. Corporate 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.