Great Diamond Partners LLC Has $342,000 Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Great Diamond Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,584 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 344 shares during the period. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,414.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,414.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,326.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,685 shares of company stock worth $13,910,094. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded down $0.33 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $134.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,876,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,967,391. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $132.46 and a 200 day moving average of $135.85. The company has a market cap of $37.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share 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 previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.52%.

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.