State of Michigan Retirement System Boosts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 77,014 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $10,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $1,211,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,948 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 318.7% in the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 204,952 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,607,000 after purchasing an additional 156,000 shares during the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.6% in the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 34,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded up $0.33 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $130.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,319,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,002,811. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.09. The company has a market capitalization of $36.62 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.06 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.64 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.06%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,515 shares of company stock worth $4,620,080 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on YUM. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.