Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 170 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Hartford Investment Management Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,761 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 170 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $121,137,000 after buying an additional 764,637 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth about $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2,288.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 502,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $74,426,000 after buying an additional 481,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 28.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $305,286,000 after buying an additional 430,511 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $152.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.39 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $146.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $147.34.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,192 shares of company stock valued at $5,346,507. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $167.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Melius began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.23.

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.