Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 13.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,602 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 239 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,989 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,585,000 after purchasing an additional 12,472 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,784 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,459,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 3,065 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 160,790 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $21,572,000 after purchasing an additional 29,932 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $145.41 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.42 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 56.57%.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on YUM. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

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.