136,950 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Purchased by Man Group plc

Man Group plc bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 136,950 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $21,893,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth approximately $4,186,811,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $706,799,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in 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. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $297,591,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $272,794,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Yum! Brands

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

• Positive Sentiment: Robert W. Baird upgraded YUM to “strong buy,” providing a bullish counterpoint to other recent rating changes. Analyst ratings and beef tariff article
• Positive Sentiment: A temporary 90-day waiver on beef import tariffs could reduce input costs for fast-food operators, potentially benefiting Yum!’s KFC and Taco Bell businesses, although the impact may be limited and temporary. Beef tariff waiver article
• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut launched a football-season marketing campaign with Pepsi and Josh Allen, alongside promotional meal deals, which could support near-term customer traffic and sales. Pizza Hut football campaign

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. Robert W. Baird raised Yum! Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $44,436.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,482.86. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. 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, VP David Eric Russell sold 7,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $1,219,227.15. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,831,674. This trade represents a 39.96% 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 sold 19,043 shares of company stock worth $2,978,180 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $154.74 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $170.14. The stock has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.91.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.