Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases 254 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,256 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Choreo LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on YUM. Evercore ISI lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 155,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,629 shares of company stock worth $13,888,443 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $137.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $38.64 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.53 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $134.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.41.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.52%.

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.