Trust Co. of Vermont Increases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Trust Co. of Vermont increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,327 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,022,648,000 after buying an additional 5,607,517 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470,883 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362,813 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,939,663 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $823,534,000 after purchasing an additional 121,285 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after buying an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the topic of several research reports. 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 report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen cut Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $156.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.56.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $134.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.21. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $118.28 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,017,818.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 101,673 shares of company stock worth $13,918,095. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.