Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Position Boosted by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 222,497 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,625 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $34,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Jessup Wealth Management Inc bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on YUM shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at $77,511.84. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,925,521.26. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,423 shares of company stock worth $1,953,721. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $164.20 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $169.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $153.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.43. The company has a market cap of $45.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.