Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 45,972 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,655 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 45,972 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $9,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.6% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 9,177 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 5.6% in the second quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,539 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.38.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $154.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.67. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 17.95%.The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total value of $419,839.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 26,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,010,292. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total transaction of $3,627,901.20. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 30,970 shares of company stock worth $4,624,805 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.