Churchill Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Churchill Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,100 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,377,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,356,869,000 after purchasing an additional 684,946 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,179,636 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,459,940,000 after acquiring an additional 487,069 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,348,846 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $509,025,000 after acquiring an additional 176,221 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,943,187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $447,364,000 after acquiring an additional 153,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 2,735,106 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $415,736,000 after acquiring an additional 104,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $155.24 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $157.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.57. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39. The company has a market cap of $42.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 48.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $40,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,552 shares in the company, valued at $10,359,304.96. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,511.84. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 2,890 shares of company stock worth $451,123 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.22.

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.