Verition Fund Management LLC Has $332,000 Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Verition Fund Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 94.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 39,642 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 50,807 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $6,730,000 after acquiring an additional 7,814 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 3,858.8% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 673 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 12.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,349 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.2% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 152,695 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $20,226,000 after purchasing an additional 15,362 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.5% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,893 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE YUM traded down $1.64 on Friday, reaching $137.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,044,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,415,504. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $124.76 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $38.23 billion, a PE ratio of 25.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $135.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.49.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.