Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 49,184 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 19.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 199,869 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 49,184 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $31,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,190 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,164,814 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,991,573,000 after purchasing an additional 124,720 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,334,427,000 after buying an additional 121,304 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $706,799,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,471,127 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $676,392,000 after acquiring an additional 104,512 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.81.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $148.82 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.71. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $170.14. The company has a market capitalization of $41.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 48.39%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,521.26. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,423 shares of company stock worth $1,953,721. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company 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.