California State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

California State Teachers Retirement System cut its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 453,147 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 8,456 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $70,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the first quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 3.4%

NYSE YUM opened at $157.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average is $153.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.39%.

Key Stories Impacting Yum! Brands

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands reported adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share, exceeding the $1.58–$1.59 analyst consensus. Revenue rose 12.2% year over year to $2.17 billion, broadly in line with expectations, while GAAP EPS reached $3.08. Yum Brands Reports Second-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Taco Bell was the main earnings driver, with strong sales, restaurant-level margins, and continued international expansion helping offset weaker performance at Pizza Hut. The result suggests the company entered the quarter with solid operating momentum. Yum Brands Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Taco Bell Strength
• Positive Sentiment: Management said Taco Bell traffic and sales are beginning to recover after the company removed affected lettuce and communicated its response to consumers. Discounts and new menu items are being used to rebuild visits and customer trust. Taco Bell Parent Company Says Sales Already Recovering
• Neutral Sentiment: The reported quarter ended June 30 and largely predates the cyclospora outbreak, limiting the usefulness of the strong results as a guide to current Taco Bell trends. Cyclospora Outbreak Clouds Strong Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Taco Bell same-store sales declined 2% quarter-to-date through July 27 after a multistate cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce sickened thousands of people. The disruption could pressure near-term sales, marketing costs, and margins. Taco Bell Works to Restore Sales Following Cyclospora Outbreak
• Negative Sentiment: Investors received limited detail about the outbreak’s ultimate financial impact, leaving uncertainty around the pace of recovery and potential reputational or legal liabilities. Yum Brands Reports Mixed Results but Gives No Update on Outbreak

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $531,544. This trade represents a 34.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,896 shares of company stock worth $1,869,148. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YUM. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.81.

Yum! Brands Company 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.