Meyer Handelman Co. Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Meyer Handelman Co. cut its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 31.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,185 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 1,885 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded down $0.60 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $144.03. The company had a trading volume of 2,414,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,016,888. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.85. The company has a market cap of $40.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The company's revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.