Howard Capital Management Inc. Sells 239 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Howard Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,602 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 239 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth $41,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on YUM. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.86.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $145.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $145.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.26. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $40.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,965. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.