Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 4,672,125 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,672,125 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $706,799,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,609,000 after acquiring an additional 11,532 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 430,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $65,423,000 after acquiring an additional 10,632 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,786,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 584,953 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $88,030,000 after acquiring an additional 30,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 89.8% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 20,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,040,000 after buying an additional 9,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at $531,544. This trade represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $44,452.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,511.84. The trade was a 36.45% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 5,364 shares of company stock worth $827,837 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $147.96 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $40.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $156.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.69. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $186.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.89.

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.