Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,529,258 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 152,675 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands makes up approximately 0.9% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $202,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 9258 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $205,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $272,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $207,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $183,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 115,700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $15,117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $169,414.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,629 shares of company stock valued at $13,888,443 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $129.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $36.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $133.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.53.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.25.

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.