The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 4,041 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. by 2.4%, selling 4,041 shares, which left it with 163,300 shares valued at approximately $25.7 million.
• Yum! Brands reported quarterly earnings of $1.44 per share, missing estimates by $0.02, while revenue for the quarter was $1.93 billion, slightly below the expected $1.94 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71, with an ex-dividend date set for September 2nd, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.9%.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 163,300 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 4,041 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $25,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 66,562 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $8,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 39,762 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,334,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 65,474 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $8,784,000 after purchasing an additional 29,224 shares during the period. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,228 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 684 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,543 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of YUM traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $143.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,484,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,792,840. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.13. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $39.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

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.