ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153,657 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 5,593 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $24,179,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $41,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $150.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,284,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,002,705. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $145.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.69 billion, a PE ratio of 29.88, a PEG ratio of 2.26 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total value of $1,028,160.91. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. The trade was a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,742 shares of company stock valued at $1,861,504. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $157.86.

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.