Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 9,389 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,501,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Yum! Brands by 124.5% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $22,422,000 after purchasing an additional 83,916 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 10.0% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,447,000 after purchasing an additional 10,755 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew 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 valued at $19,294,000 after buying an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $39,972.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 63,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,766,528.65. This trade represents a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,971.45. This trade represents a 35.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,043 shares of company stock valued at $2,978,180. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 2.2%

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

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

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on YUM. Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Yum! Brands to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One equities 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.65.

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.