Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. cut its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 14.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 870,866 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 141,727 shares during the period. Yum! Brands comprises about 0.8% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $135,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 569,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $86,197,000 after purchasing an additional 31,836 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at $1,589,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 584,953 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $88,030,000 after buying an additional 30,075 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $1,264,000. Finally, Ethos Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $1,372,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,423 shares of company stock worth $1,953,721. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:YUM opened at $148.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $154.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.71. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Yum! Brands

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.