Intech Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Intech Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 54,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 603 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $163,000. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.6% in the third quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 18.2% in the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 3,093 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 13.7% in the third quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 6,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 46.6% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,258 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Guggenheim upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,521 shares of company stock valued at $4,620,263. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $1.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $137.65. The company had a trading volume of 1,453,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,133,299. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $38.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $138.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.36.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.06 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.