Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Purchased by Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 109.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,055 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,557 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,356,869,000 after acquiring an additional 684,946 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,945,791,000 after buying an additional 297,641 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,217,826,000 after buying an additional 218,046 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $602,551,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in shares of 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 period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. This trade represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,607.94. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Oppenheimer cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $159.28 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39. The company has a market capitalization of $44.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50-day moving average of $158.25 and a 200-day moving average of $151.67.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.61 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.05%.

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.