Toronto Dominion Bank Increases Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 130,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,362 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $17,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,334 shares of company stock valued at $9,734,737 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on YUM. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $143.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $40.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $148.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.57. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.