Engineers Gate Manager LP Has $942,000 Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Engineers Gate Manager LP cut its Yum! Brands stake by 67.6% in the second quarter, selling 12,268 shares and retaining 5,890 shares valued at approximately $942,000. Institutional investors collectively own 82.37% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with 14 Buy ratings, six Holds and one Sell rating, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $174.67. Yum! Brands also exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $1.62 versus the $1.58 consensus.
• Yum! Brands pays a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, equivalent to a 2.2% yield, and has authorized a $4 billion share-repurchase program covering up to 9.4% of outstanding shares.

Engineers Gate Manager LP decreased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 67.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,890 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 12,268 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Steph & Co. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Seaport Research Partners initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $162.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating and set a $174.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total value of $552,052.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 3 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474. This represents a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP David Russell sold 7,961 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $1,219,227.15. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,831,674. This trade represents a 39.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 18,780 shares of company stock worth $2,940,693 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $138.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $134.26 and a 52-week high of $170.14. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $149.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.05.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is 37.74%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises quick-service restaurants. Its portfolio includes KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and The Habit Burger Grill, which offer products such as fried and grilled chicken, tacos and other Mexican-inspired foods, pizza, burgers and related menu items.

The company's restaurants serve customers through a combination of company-operated locations and franchised and licensed outlets. Yum! Brands supports its restaurant concepts with brand management, franchise services, technology and digital ordering capabilities, while franchisees generally manage day-to-day restaurant operations.

Yum! Brands serves customers in numerous markets worldwide, with a significant presence in the United States and international markets across regions including Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

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