Allstate Corp Acquires New Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 9,574 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,557,612 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,120,747,000 after purchasing an additional 448,393 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,945,791,000 after acquiring an additional 297,641 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,217,826,000 after acquiring an additional 218,046 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $602,551,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,723,000 after buying an additional 40,757 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total value of $419,839.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,010,292. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total value of $189,550.53. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,559.68. The trade was a 95.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 30,695 shares of company stock worth $4,582,843 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $173.00 in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Evercore ISI raised Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $179.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.70.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 4.4%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $153.19 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $151.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $148.43. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.58 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $42.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.67.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 17.95% and a negative return on equity of 21.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

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.