Ketron Financial Buys New Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Ketron Financial bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 34,733 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $5,254,000. Yum! Brands makes up about 1.7% of Ketron Financial’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Monetary Solutions Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $263,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. SB Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Finally, Cambient Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $304,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: The Pizza Hut divestiture could simplify Yum! Brands’ portfolio, reduce a long-running drag on growth, and allow management to concentrate capital and attention on higher-performing brands like KFC and Taco Bell, which many investors see as the company’s core growth engines.
• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands also authorized a $4 billion share repurchase plan, which signals management confidence and could support earnings per share if executed over time.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators noted that the sale may unlock value and improve flexibility, but views remain mixed on whether the stock is already fairly valued after recent gains.
• Negative Sentiment: Pizza Hut was sold after a prolonged demand slump, underscoring weakness in one of Yum! Brands’ key legacy concepts and raising questions about the pace of growth the company can deliver without it.
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts still see valuation as a near-term limit on upside, suggesting the stock may not rerate sharply even after the portfolio cleanup.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This trade represents a 48.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at $9,522,735.48. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,895 shares of company stock worth $906,499. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $152.15 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39. The stock has a market cap of $41.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $154.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on YUM shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price 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. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.12.

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.