Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC sold 5,712 shares of Yum! Brands, reducing its stake by 22% to 20,235 shares, valued at approximately $3.18 million.
• CEO Scott Mezvinsky and Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick both sold shares recently, reflecting significant decreases in their respective holdings, with insiders selling a total of 29,284 shares valued at $4.31 million over the last ninety days.
• Yum! Brands reported Q2 earnings of $1.44 per share, missing estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.9%.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 22.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,235 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 5,712 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of YUM. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $121,137,000 after purchasing an additional 764,637 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $305,286,000 after purchasing an additional 430,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,944,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on YUM. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Melius assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE YUM traded down $1.61 on Tuesday, reaching $145.36. The stock had a trading volume of 1,619,013 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,133,086. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $146.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.17.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 263 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.92, for a total value of $36,798.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $245,559.60. The trade was a 13.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,284 shares of company stock worth $4,310,663 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Company 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.