Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Shares in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter, buying 14,100 shares valued at about $2.19 million.
• Yum! Brands reported quarterly earnings of $1.50 per share, beating estimates, while revenue rose 15.2% year over year to $2.06 billion.
• The company also approved a $4.0 billion share repurchase program and paid a $0.75 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 1.9% annual yield.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 14,100 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $2,192,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $706,799,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,938,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,190 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $272,794,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 42.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,183,964 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $632,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $168,604,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares in the company, valued at $77,511.84. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company's stock, valued at $531,544. The trade was a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock worth $906,499. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $158.30 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $169.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $153.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.08. The company has a market cap of $43.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.57.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication 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 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 48.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and set a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $176.12.

About Yum! Brands

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.

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