Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 121,304 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,334,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 124.5% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,422,000 after purchasing an additional 83,916 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 10.0% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,447,000 after purchasing an additional 10,755 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 59.1% in the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.89.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.4%

YUM opened at $149.89 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $156.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.69. The company has a market cap of $41.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 48.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $531,544. This represents a 34.44% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $44,452.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,511.84. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 5,364 shares of company stock valued at $827,837 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.