Bank of Nova Scotia Acquires 39,859 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 108.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,642 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,859 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $11,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $602,551,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,382,000 after purchasing an additional 713,167 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Yum! Brands by 115.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $197,013,000 after purchasing an additional 703,891 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $97,453,000. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 35.9% during the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,306,932 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $341,841,000 after buying an additional 609,223 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on YUM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Yum! Brands to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.38.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $144.02 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $146.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.49. The firm has a market cap of $39.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.67.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 17.95% and a negative return on equity of 21.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total transaction of $3,627,901.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 276 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $42,274.92. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 38,146 shares of company stock valued at $5,699,770. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.