Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by Waverly Advisors LLC

Waverly Advisors LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 30.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,408 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,347 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 25.4% in the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 37,926 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,897,000 after buying an additional 7,676 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.5% during the first quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 2,108 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $311,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 404.5% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 55,378 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,610,000 after acquiring an additional 44,402 shares during the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 29,539 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,593,000 after acquiring an additional 2,090 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $684,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

More Yum! Brands News

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on YUM. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Weiss Ratings cut Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.81.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 3.4%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $157.04 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $170.14. The stock has a market cap of $43.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $153.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.39%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,925,521.26. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a 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 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 value of $44,436.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,482.86. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 sold 11,896 shares of company stock worth $1,869,148 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.