Appleton Partners Inc. MA Sells 579 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lowered its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,055 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 579 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 168.4% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 867 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 196,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,648,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 23,604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,084,000 after buying an additional 696 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $276,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. Evercore ISI cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares in the company, valued at $9,326.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares in the company, valued at $9,326.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,629 shares of company stock valued at $13,888,443 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $137.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $134.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.41. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $38.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

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.