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

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 4,950,000 shares, agrowthof16,290.7% from the June 30th total of 30,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately1.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Approximately1.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Melius started coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 28th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,720 shares of company stock worth $2,150,965 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,367,427,000 after buying an additional 483,918 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after purchasing an additional 163,462 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $338,296,000 after purchasing an additional 24,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $306,444,000 after purchasing an additional 244,264 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE:YUM opened at $145.41 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $145.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.26. The company has a market capitalization of $40.42 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

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.