YUM will release its quarterly earnings on Thursday, Feb. 4 before the open
Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) is an American fast-food corporation headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. The company portfolio of popular fast-food brands includes KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.
On Feb. 1, Yum! Brands declared a dividend of $0.50 per share of common stock, indicating a 6% increase from the $0.47 dividend it paid in the previous quarter. This increase also brings the company’s forward dividend up to $2.00 and its dividend yield to 1.94%. The quarterly dividend will be distributed March 12 to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 12. YUM’s dividend history dates back to 2004.
On top of an exciting dividend announcement, YUM will step into the earnings confessional on Thursday, Feb. 4, before the market opens. Yum! Brands has outperformed analysts' earnings expectations on two of its last four quarterly reports. However, YUM has not had a positive post-earnings reaction on the charts since August 2019. In fact, in the last eight quarters, the stock has averaged a muted post-earnings move of 2.4%, regardless of direction. This time around for Friday though, the options market is pricing in a larger-than-usual move of 5.9%.
On the charts, Yum! stock has taken a breather from its Dec. 30 annual high of $110.66. But the mini-pullback has so far found support at the shares' 100-day moving average. Going forward, keep an eye out on the equity's 12-month and year-to-date breakeven levels, both of which YUM is slightly below at the moment.
