Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Acquired by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 152,695 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,362 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned 0.05% of Yum! Brands worth $20,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bfsg LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 79.8% in the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.41 on Friday, hitting $137.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,667,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,981,394. The company has a market capitalization of $38.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $132.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.38.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,947,485.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 100,376 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,237. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.