Oxbow Advisors LLC Sells 237 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Oxbow Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 10.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,954 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 237 shares during the period. Oxbow Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $331,831,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,914,257,000 after acquiring an additional 678,659 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,254,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $163,906,000 after acquiring an additional 649,922 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $208,045,000 after acquiring an additional 570,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,405,452 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,058,156,000 after acquiring an additional 373,232 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total transaction of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,515 shares of company stock worth $4,620,080. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM traded up $1.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $130.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 178,522 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,974,578. The firm has a market cap of $36.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $135.55 and a 200-day moving average of $134.97. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.53 and a 12 month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.33.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.