Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Short Interest Down 26.9% in April

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,500,000 shares, a decrease of 26.9% from the March 31st total of 6,160,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,390,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on YUM. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $156.20.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded up $0.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $149.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,972,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,010,830. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $41.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $151.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $141.04.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at $23,162,903.10. This trade represents a 3.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $886,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

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.