Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Short Interest Update

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM – Get Rating) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,360,000 shares, an increase of 32.8% from the February 13th total of 2,530,000 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $124.58 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $103.96 and a 52 week high of $133.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $128.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.32.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The restaurant operator reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.05. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 19.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.605 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,925 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $510,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 14,393 shares in the company, valued at $1,871,090. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 4,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.52, for a total transaction of $547,366.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 31,715 shares in the company, valued at $4,076,011.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,925 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $510,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 14,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,871,090. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 127.7% in the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 214 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Dupont Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 396.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 288 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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Yum! Brands, Inc operates as a service restaurant company. The firm engages in the development, operation, franchise, and licenses of a system of restaurants. It operates through the following segments: KFC Division, Pizza Hut Division, Taco Bell Division, and Habit Burger Grill Division. The KFC Division segment consists of all operations of the KFC concept.