Empowered Funds LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 56.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,637 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $9,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 199,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,027,000 after buying an additional 18,819 shares in the last quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $1,424,000. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $324,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $1,257,000. Finally, Delta Global Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at $624,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Yum! Brands

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

• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands reported adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share, exceeding the $1.58–$1.59 analyst consensus. Revenue rose 12.2% year over year to $2.17 billion, broadly in line with expectations, while GAAP EPS reached $3.08. Yum Brands Reports Second-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Taco Bell was the main earnings driver, with strong sales, restaurant-level margins, and continued international expansion helping offset weaker performance at Pizza Hut. The result suggests the company entered the quarter with solid operating momentum. Yum Brands Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Taco Bell Strength
• Positive Sentiment: Management said Taco Bell traffic and sales are beginning to recover after the company removed affected lettuce and communicated its response to consumers. Discounts and new menu items are being used to rebuild visits and customer trust. Taco Bell Parent Company Says Sales Already Recovering
• Neutral Sentiment: The reported quarter ended June 30 and largely predates the cyclospora outbreak, limiting the usefulness of the strong results as a guide to current Taco Bell trends. Cyclospora Outbreak Clouds Strong Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Taco Bell same-store sales declined 2% quarter-to-date through July 27 after a multistate cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce sickened thousands of people. The disruption could pressure near-term sales, marketing costs, and margins. Taco Bell Works to Restore Sales Following Cyclospora Outbreak
• Negative Sentiment: Investors received limited detail about the outbreak’s ultimate financial impact, leaving uncertainty around the pace of recovery and potential reputational or legal liabilities. Yum Brands Reports Mixed Results but Gives No Update on Outbreak

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,925,521.26. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $39,997.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,522,735.48. This trade represents a 0.42% 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 11,896 shares of company stock valued at $1,869,148 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $157.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $170.14. The business’s fifty day moving average is $153.98 and its 200 day moving average is $156.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.81.

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.