Hartford Investment Management Co. Has $2.44 Million Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Hartford Investment Management Co. lessened its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,438 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 517 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 79.8% in the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 165.7% in 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 during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $133.16 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $118.28 and a one year high of $143.20. The firm 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $156.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.44.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,947,485.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,326.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,918,095 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

About Yum! Brands

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.