SummitTX Capital L.P. Buys New Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,158 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 124.5% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,422,000 after purchasing an additional 83,916 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,447,000 after purchasing an additional 10,755 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 59.1% in the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $152.20 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $170.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $156.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.95 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.56.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $40,105.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,032 shares in the company, valued at $10,272,013.44. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $44,436.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,482.86. This trade represents 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 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.81.

About Yum! Brands

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.