Quantinno Capital Management LP Boosts Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 199,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 18,819 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $31,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SummitTX Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $1,424,000. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $324,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $1,257,000. Delta Global Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $624,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 135.7% during the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 24,020 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,735,000 after acquiring an additional 13,830 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,521.26. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $44,436.34. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,482.86. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 11,896 shares of company stock worth $1,869,148 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.94.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $153.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $153.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.71. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board 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%.

More Yum! Brands News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter earnings exceeded expectations. Adjusted EPS was $1.62, above the $1.58–$1.59 analyst consensus, while revenue increased 12.2% year over year to $2.17 billion. Net income surged 128% to $853 million, supported by higher sales, strong Taco Bell performance and improved restaurant-level margins. Yum! Brands Reports Second-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut’s planned $2.7 billion sale could sharpen Yum’s focus. Management is exiting the weaker-performing Pizza Hut business and intends to concentrate capital and resources on KFC, Taco Bell and its other growth brands. Yum also outlined a KFC transformation strategy spanning its 20 largest markets through the end of 2027. Yum outlines Pizza Hut sale for $2.7B
• Positive Sentiment: Loyalty and digital initiatives remain growth drivers. Taco Bell and KFC are expanding rewards programs and using targeted promotions to increase customer frequency, while brand innovation and global restaurant expansion support longer-term sales growth. Yum Brands doubles down on loyalty

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.