Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Stock Holdings Lifted by Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP

Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP raised its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 18.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 347,243 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,262 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands accounts for 8.7% of Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Camrose Capital Investment Partners LLP’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $52,531,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2,702.8% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,520 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,561,000 after buying an additional 35,217 shares in the last quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,476,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 10,190 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,959,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,511.84. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.12.

Key Headlines Impacting Yum! Brands

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

• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands agreed to sell Pizza Hut outside mainland China to LongRange Capital and Pizza Hut’s mainland China business to Yum China, simplifying the portfolio and sharpening the company’s focus on stronger brands. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: The board approved an additional $4 billion share repurchase authorization, signaling management expects to return a meaningful portion of the sale proceeds to shareholders. RTTNews article
• Positive Sentiment: The transaction could improve Yum’s growth profile and margins by exiting a struggling chain that has been losing market share and weighing on earnings. CNBC article
• Neutral Sentiment: Yum! Brands also showcased a broader refresh at KFC, including new menu items, drinks, branding, and store concepts, which supports the long-term strategy but is not an immediate earnings catalyst. Fox Business article
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen reaffirmed a Buy rating and raised its price target to $180, reinforcing a constructive analyst view on the stock. Benzinga article

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $157.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $154.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.74. The stock has a market cap of $43.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.57. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year 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, topping the consensus estimate 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 negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

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.