Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) saw a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,260,000 shares, an increase of 28.7% from the May 31st total of 7,970,000 shares. Approximately 3.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,980,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total transaction of $963,332.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,515 shares of company stock valued at $4,620,080 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.6% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,328 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $184,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $202,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.5% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 614,212 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $83,995,000 after acquiring an additional 15,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $295,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on YUM. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.33.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $132.46. 5,818,971 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,881,942. The company has a market cap of $37.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $137.51 and its 200-day moving average is $135.03. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.64 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

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.