Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System has reduced its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. by 12.5%, now holding 13,171 shares valued at approximately $2.07 million.
• Several hedge funds have recently changed their stakes in Yum! Brands, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its holdings by a remarkable 14,795.6%.
• Yum! Brands has experienced adjustments in price targets from multiple analysts, with Evercore ISI lowering it from $170 to $165 while maintaining an "in-line" rating.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,171 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 1,874 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,073,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $338,296,000 after acquiring an additional 24,681 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $306,444,000 after acquiring an additional 244,264 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 70.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,518 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 43,913 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,983 shares of company stock worth $2,187,764. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock traded up $0.85 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $142.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,606,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,154,852. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $145.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $147.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.73.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. Yum! Brands's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Melius started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, August 4th. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 target price (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

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.