New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 10,900 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 207,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 10,900 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.07% of Yum! Brands worth $31,464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 12.3% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,863 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.9% during the third quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 6,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 67,774 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,302,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108 shares in the last quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $205,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 419,878 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $63,821,000 after acquiring an additional 101,628 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “overweight” rating and set a $179.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. TD Cowen raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $173.00 in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.30.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total transaction of $189,550.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,559.68. This represents a 95.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total transaction of $261,161.55. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 30,695 shares of company stock valued at $4,582,843 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $155.58 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $128.73 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $43.20 billion, a PE ratio of 30.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $152.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.67.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 17.95% and a negative return on equity of 21.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.