Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Sells 381 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 381 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $579,000 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. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 151.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 156,690 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $24,657,000 after acquiring an additional 94,355 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $939,000. First National Bank Sioux Falls purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $55,564,000 after purchasing an additional 6,673 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,195 shares of company stock worth $5,348,137. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Guggenheim reissued 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.32.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $150.61 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $147.05 and a 200 day moving average of $147.13. The company has a market cap of $41.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results 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 negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 56.02%.

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.