Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,340 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,088 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at about $3,415,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 112,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,752,000 after buying an additional 16,124 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $381,000. American National Bank boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 23,168 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,027,000 after buying an additional 7,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leo Wealth LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $268,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on YUM. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $143.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $1.58 during trading on Monday, hitting $129.63. 669,992 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,971,441. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $36.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.94.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total value of $969,991.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,160,066.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 33,398 shares of company stock valued at $4,552,727. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.