Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Cuts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lowered its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,756 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,231 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bfsg LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,398 shares of company stock worth $4,552,727. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on YUM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $143.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM traded up $2.85 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $130.90. The stock had a trading volume of 1,087,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,974,341. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $133.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.87 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.52%.

About Yum! Brands

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.