SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires 210,226 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 756.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 238,030 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 210,226 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $37,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 569,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $86,197,000 after purchasing an additional 31,836 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 584,953 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $88,030,000 after purchasing an additional 30,075 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $1,264,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth approximately $24,786,000. Finally, Ethos Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,372,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. 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 note on Thursday, April 30th. 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. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, 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 accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $152.00 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $169.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $154.26 and a 200 day moving average of $155.78.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

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

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Company 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.