California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 102,651 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 11.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 810,518 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 102,651 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.29% of Yum! Brands worth $123,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 167.5% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 205,036 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,165,000 after buying an additional 128,394 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,238,938 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $188,319,000 after buying an additional 294,592 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 120,967 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,387,000 after buying an additional 9,823 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $3,200,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 459,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $69,845,000 after acquiring an additional 25,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of YUM opened at $160.30 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $158.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $151.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.88, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.64.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on YUM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Oppenheimer cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Citigroup upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $40,176.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.