Oak Thistle LLC Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Oak Thistle LLC lessened its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 66.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,405,452 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,058,156,000 after purchasing an additional 373,232 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,914,257,000 after purchasing an additional 678,659 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $331,831,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $208,045,000 after purchasing an additional 570,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,555,012 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $203,178,000 after purchasing an additional 33,501 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total value of $969,991.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,160,066.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,515 shares of company stock worth $4,620,080 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on YUM. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.33.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded down $2.76 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $129.70. 2,788,908 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,000,181. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $36.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.06 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands 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.