9,895 Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Purchased by RB Capital Management LLC

RB Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 9,895 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,582,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Steph & Co. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $27,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $29,000. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total transaction of $552,052.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474. This represents a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,522,735.48. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,043 shares of company stock worth $2,978,180. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Yum! Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $154.08 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $170.14. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.81. The company has a market capitalization of $42.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

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.