Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Holdings Lifted by Entropy Technologies LP

Entropy Technologies LP increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 25.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 37,926 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,676 shares during the quarter. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 124.5% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,422,000 after acquiring an additional 83,916 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,447,000 after acquiring an additional 10,755 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.1% in the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total value of $279,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $40,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,272,013.44. This trade represents a 0.39% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,423 shares of company stock worth $1,953,721. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $148.82 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $154.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.71. The company has a market cap of $41.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS 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 business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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 buy up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.81.

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.