Pensionfund Sabic Purchases Shares of 9,000 Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 9,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,362,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 833.3% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $179.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of Yum! Brands 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $159.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $159.51 and its 200 day moving average is $152.62. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $169.39.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

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.