Tracy Skeans Sells 1,837 Shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) COO Tracy Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of YUM stock traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $151.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 492,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,833,381. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $157.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.03. The company has a market capitalization of $41.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in Yum! Brands by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $52,804,000 after buying an additional 57,112 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,609,000 after buying an additional 11,532 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 430,416 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $65,423,000 after buying an additional 10,632 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,786,000. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management increased its position in Yum! Brands by 89.8% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 20,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,040,000 after buying an additional 9,509 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on YUM shares. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $180.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.22.

More Yum! Brands News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research lifted multiple earnings estimates for Yum! Brands, including FY2026, FY2027 and FY2028, signaling analysts see stronger long-term profit growth ahead. Analyst estimate updates for Yum! Brands
• Positive Sentiment: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, reinforcing its cash return profile and supporting investor confidence. Yum! Brands declares quarterly dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Restaurants India reported FY24 profit of Rs 162 crore on 13% higher income, while the franchisee’s narrower loss on stronger KFC sales suggests improving momentum in a key international market. Yum Restaurants India FY24 results
• Neutral Sentiment: A MarketWatch note said Yum! Brands underperformed some competitors on Wednesday, but the article did not point to a new company-specific problem. Yum! Brands stock underperforms competitors
• Negative Sentiment: Broader restaurant-sector pressure remains a backdrop after a pizza chain filed Chapter 11, highlighting ongoing cost and competition concerns for the industry. Pizza restaurant chain files Chapter 11

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.