Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $2.21 Million in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,900 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,208,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Clear Street Markets LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% during the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. 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 MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $137.83 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.02. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 47.94%.

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.