Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY Trims Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY decreased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 548,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 9,779 shares during the quarter. Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY owned approximately 0.20% of Yum! Brands worth $83,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,356,869,000 after purchasing an additional 684,946 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,179,636 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,459,940,000 after purchasing an additional 487,069 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,945,791,000 after buying an additional 297,641 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,217,826,000 after buying an additional 218,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $602,551,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on YUM. Oppenheimer cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, November 17th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,607.94. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $158.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.76 billion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $169.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $158.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.75.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

More Yum! Brands News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Yum reported strong Q4 results, rising operating profit and system momentum with ~4,500 new restaurant openings globally — evidence the franchise-led model is scaling and supporting revenue and margin guidance. Did Yum!’s Q4 Beat and 4,500 New Openings Just Shift Yum! Brands’ (YUM) Investment Narrative?
• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut rolled out the “Hut Crust” platform and a $10 large three‑topping promotion (first recipe update in over a decade) to drive traffic and AUV lift for the Pizza Hut brand. Product refreshes like this can help close the gap with competitors on value and relevance. PIZZA HUT LAUNCHES HUT CRUST PLATFORM FOR CRUST LOVERS & SETS OUT TO HIRE FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND HUT CRUST CONNOISSEUR
• Positive Sentiment: KFC (a Yum brand) launched a limited-time “20 Wings for $20” bracket‑season value promotion — a national, high-visibility deal that should boost traffic and basket sizes during a key hosting period. KFC® Turns Up the Heat for Bracket Season with 20 Wings for 20*
• Positive Sentiment: Franchise expansion activity in Europe — e.g., Collins Foods acquiring KFC outlets in Germany — signals continued third‑party investment in the KFC model and incremental international growth for Yum’s ecosystem. Collins Foods to acquire eight KFC outlets in Germany
• Neutral Sentiment: Domino’s is reporting strong same-store sales momentum driven by digital orders, value deals and global expansion — competitive strength at DPZ could pressure Pizza Hut and category share, but also signals robust pizza demand overall. Can Domino’s Same-Store Sales Strength Support Retail Growth in 2026?
• Neutral Sentiment: Papa John’s continues to invest in digital and loyalty to drive repeat orders — a competitive initiative that matters regionally but is not an immediate threat to Yum’s scale. Can Papa John’s Digital Investments & Loyalty Expansion Drive Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports of takeover interest in Papa John’s and related market moves lift volatility across the pizza peer group but are indirect for Yum; useful for industry comps and M&A sentiment. Papa John’s Stock Jumps on Reported Takeover Bid
• Negative Sentiment: Analysis pieces flag Yum! as underperforming the Dow in recent stretches, which could weigh on sentiment and limit near‑term multiple expansion despite operational wins. Is Yum! Brands Stock Underperforming the Dow?

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.