Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 42.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 107,386 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 79,389 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $16,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 124.5% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $22,422,000 after acquiring an additional 83,916 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.0% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,447,000 after acquiring an additional 10,755 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $19,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.1% in the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. This trade represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $40,176.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $160.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.29 billion, a PE ratio of 28.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.09. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YUM. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $179.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.50.

About Yum! Brands

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.