Toronto Dominion Bank Purchases 3,362 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 130,808 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 3,362 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $17,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after acquiring an additional 163,462 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in 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 period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $418,692,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $338,296,000 after purchasing an additional 24,681 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $149.75 on Tuesday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $149.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.17. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.63 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.70.

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.

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