Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Sells 423 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 16.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,076 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 423 shares during the period. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $41,962.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $267,795.45. The trade was a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 value of $296,121.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,815 shares of company stock valued at $4,267,986. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 7.5%

YUM opened at $149.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.16.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on YUM. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Melius assumed coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.82.

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.