OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 135.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 24,020 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,830 shares during the quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Econ Financial Services Corp increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,416,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $147.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.56. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $170.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $153.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This trade represents a 48.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.