First National Bank of Omaha Invests $617,000 in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

First National Bank of Omaha purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 4,060 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,356,869,000 after buying an additional 684,946 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,217,826,000 after purchasing an additional 218,046 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at approximately $602,551,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,723,000 after purchasing an additional 40,757 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Gordon Haskett upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Oppenheimer cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.00.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the company’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 represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total value of $265,383.56. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,888 shares of company stock worth $2,244,938. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.3%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $163.45 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $155.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.04. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $165.32. The stock has a market cap of $45.38 billion, a PE ratio of 29.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released 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). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The firm had revenue of $2.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 51.17%.

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.