Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by Mechanics Bank Trust Department

Mechanics Bank Trust Department lowered its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,282 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,455 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. HFM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Melius initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $161.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,192 shares of company stock valued at $5,346,507. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.3%

YUM stock opened at $145.63 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.54. The firm has a market cap of $40.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect 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 was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 56.02%.

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.