Wesleyan Assurance Society Sells 5,500 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Wesleyan Assurance Society trimmed its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,420 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,500 shares during the quarter. Wesleyan Assurance Society’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the third quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 3,197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.8% in the third quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 4,085 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,607.94. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $159.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $158.11 and a 200-day moving average of $151.59. The company has a market cap of $44.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

About Yum! Brands

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.