Oak Thistle LLC Sells 8,763 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Oak Thistle LLC lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 66.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,408 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 8,763 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $611,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 16,204 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,025,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,363 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,420,000 after acquiring an additional 3,586 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 31,057 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 3,789 shares in the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $558,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $443,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE:YUM traded down $2.76 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $129.70. 2,788,908 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,000,181. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The business's 50-day moving average price is $137.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.52%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,515 shares of company stock valued at $4,620,080 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and set a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $144.33.

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.

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