MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Increases Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 31.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,414 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Range Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.8% in the second quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the second quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 44,717 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.8% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,008 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $742,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. New Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the second quarter. New Capital Management LP now owns 8,747 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,296,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RB Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.9% in the second quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 10,172 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,192 shares of company stock worth $5,346,507. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $167.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $164.00 target price (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Melius initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $145.26 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released 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). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

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.