Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Invests $7.14 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 45,127 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $7,141,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,186,811,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $706,799,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $638,589,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,240,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $297,591,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total transaction of $552,052.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474. This trade represents a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,521.26. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,043 shares of company stock valued at $2,978,180. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Yum! Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $154.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $42.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $153.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.81. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 37.74%.

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.