Jupiter Topco LLC Takes $5.46 Million Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 34,141 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $5,458,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 569,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $86,197,000 after acquiring an additional 31,836 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,589,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 584,953 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $88,030,000 after acquiring an additional 30,075 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,264,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 19.8% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 103,807 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,140,000 after purchasing an additional 17,189 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were 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 owned 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474. The trade was a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,521.26. This trade represents a 33.33% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,512 shares of company stock worth $2,899,517. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.65.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $153.36 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $153.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $170.14.

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

Yum! Brands declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 37.74%.

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.