California Public Employees Retirement System Acquires 69,703 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,266,114 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,703 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.45% of Yum! Brands worth $165,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 8,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the third quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,439 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE YUM traded up $1.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $140.27. 307,720 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,913,145. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.53 and a 12 month high of $143.24. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $137.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $130.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.49 billion, a PE ratio of 24.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer raised Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

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.