Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Holdings Cut by IFM Investors Pty Ltd

Key Points

• IFM Investors Pty Ltd has reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. by 6.3%, now holding 50,275 shares valued at approximately $7.91 million.
• In the first quarter, various investors, including Manchester Capital Management, have increased their investments in Yum! Brands, with overall institutional ownership now at 82.37%.
• Yum! Brands reported a quarterly EPS of $1.44, missing expectations, while also announcing a dividend of $0.71 per share with a yield of 1.9%.

IFM Investors Pty Ltd decreased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 6.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,275 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 3,357 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $7,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 263 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.92, for a total transaction of $36,798.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $245,559.60. This represents a 13.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,016 shares of company stock valued at $4,271,543 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on YUM. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE YUM opened at $146.11 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.03. The company has a market cap of $40.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.Yum! Brands's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

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.

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