Equitable Holdings Inc. Makes New $557,000 Investment in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Equitable Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,484 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $557,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steph & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $154.08 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $170.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $153.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.81. The company has a market capitalization of $42.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.74%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $41,044.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,971.45. This represents a 35.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 approximately $1,925,521.26. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,043 shares of company stock worth $2,978,180. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.