Silvant Capital Management LLC Takes $1.44 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Silvant Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,975 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,435,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the first quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Yum! Brands

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

• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands’ investment narrative is increasingly centered on artificial intelligence, automation, digital loyalty and personalized app experiences. Management is using these tools across Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut to improve delivery, inventory management and customer engagement, potentially supporting efficiency and sales growth. How Yum! Brands’ AI Automation And Loyalty Push Has Changed Its Investment Story
• Positive Sentiment: One valuation analysis argues that YUM could be approximately 19% below fair value, offering potential upside if investors view the company’s long-term brand strength, technology investments and international growth favorably. The appointment of director Kathleen Oberg to the Audit Committee was also highlighted as a governance development. Yum! Brands Could Be 19% Below Fair Value After Audit Committee Change
• Neutral Sentiment: Executive Sean Tresvant reported restricted stock unit vesting and the withholding of shares to cover taxes. The filing is generally routine and does not necessarily signal a change in management’s view of the company. Yum Brands Executive Sean Tresvant Reports RSU Vesting and Tax-Related Share Withholding
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst roundups from Zacks and other market commentators provide additional coverage of YUM but do not identify a decisive new earnings or operating catalyst. The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights McDonald’s, Starbucks and Yum! Brands
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP is investigating potential claims on behalf of Yum! Brands investors. Although no finding of wrongdoing was reported, the investigation creates legal and reputational uncertainty. Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims on Behalf of Yum! Brands Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Argus issued a pessimistic forecast for YUM, tempering the more optimistic fair-value commentary and suggesting concern about the stock’s near-term risk-reward profile. Argus Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Yum! Brands Stock

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This trade represents a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of Yum! Brands 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 directly owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,482.86. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. 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 18,549 shares of company stock valued at $2,890,168 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 4.3%

YUM stock opened at $152.24 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.00. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $170.14. The stock has a market cap of $41.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The business’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.