Intech Investment Management LLC Reduces Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Intech Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 24.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 13,287 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Bfsg LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 79.8% in the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 165.7% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.31.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,398 shares of company stock worth $4,552,727 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of YUM traded down $1.38 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $126.93. 2,045,961 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,144,245. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $134.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.94.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.06 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.