HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Has $1.15 Million Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lessened its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 50.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,777 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 7,878 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $38,000. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,720 shares of company stock worth $2,150,965 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.9%

YUM traded down $1.26 during trading on Thursday, reaching $146.53. 653,900 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,130,981. The stock's 50-day moving average is $145.89 and its 200 day moving average is $145.35. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.73 billion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Melius started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $159.86.

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.