Toronto Dominion Bank Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Toronto Dominion Bank reduced its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 27.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,998 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 32,255 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $11,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 8,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $143.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,398 shares of company stock valued at $4,552,727 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of YUM traded up $0.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $128.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,874,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,980,542. The company’s 50-day moving average is $133.44 and its 200-day moving average is $134.85. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.