Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 0.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 62,125 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 103 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 11,541.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 141,678 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,512,000 after buying an additional 140,461 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,944 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,777 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088 shares during the period. Finally, Syon Capital LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 3,342 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,596,900.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 165,630 shares in the company, valued at $22,596,900.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 101,685 shares of company stock valued at $13,910,094. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $135.52 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.75. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $38.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.52%.

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.