Ethic Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Ethic Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 30.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,722 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $631,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $475,714,000 after buying an additional 601,361 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,045,475 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $274,421,000 after acquiring an additional 258,369 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,954,145 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $307,504,000 after acquiring an additional 27,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,700,298 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $267,559,000 after acquiring an additional 23,008 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $149.2170 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.43, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $145.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $147.82.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,284 shares of company stock valued at $4,310,663. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.