Aberdeen Group plc Has $37.54 Million Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 243,879 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 6,030 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.09% of Yum! Brands worth $37,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 833.3% during the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Evercore raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective 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 issued a $179.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.29.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $160.38 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.66. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $165.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $154.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.61 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value 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 represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 276 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $42,274.92. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.