Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Hartford Investment Management Co.

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,438 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 517 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 21.1% in the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 12.3% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 2,141 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 21.8% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 42,993 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,961,000 after purchasing an additional 7,686 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,618 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.0% during the 1st quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 2,737 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 936 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YUM. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $145.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.44.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $133.16 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $118.28 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $37.44 billion, a PE ratio of 24.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,326.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,673 shares of company stock worth $13,918,095 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.