Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,083 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 110 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $981,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Command Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $25,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. TimeScale Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Clear Street Markets LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% in the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. TD Cowen raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.11.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $127.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $132.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.15. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.96 and a 12-month high of $143.24. The firm has a market cap of $35.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.01.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 16.16% and a net margin of 20.31%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.19 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 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 29th were paid a $0.605 dividend. This represents a $2.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 28th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.27, for a total value of $686,350.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 16,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,203,458.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,332 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.46, for a total value of $179,100.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165,789.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.27, for a total value of $686,350.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 16,052 shares in the company, valued at $2,203,458.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,067 shares of company stock valued at $1,912,510 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through four segments: the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division. It 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.