Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Position Lifted by Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 72,653 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $11,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 575,835 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $87,527,000 after buying an additional 5,869 shares in the last quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 2,457 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 4,163 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 65.0% during the third quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 7,757 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.2% in the third quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 35,952 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.8%

YUM opened at $160.38 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $154.43 and its 200-day moving average is $149.58. The stock has a market cap of $44.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.66. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $165.32.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 51.17%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,608 shares of company stock valued at $5,607,456. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays set a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.29.

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.