New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 15.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 218,455 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 39,000 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.08% of Yum! Brands worth $34,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 151.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 156,690 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $24,657,000 after acquiring an additional 94,355 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $270,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $939,000. First National Bank Sioux Falls purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at $283,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,103 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $55,564,000 after purchasing an additional 6,673 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE YUM traded up $2.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $148.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,427,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,988,427. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.86. The company has a market capitalization of $41.20 billion, a PE ratio of 29.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The firm's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 56.57%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,965. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $159.86.

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.