Public Sector Pension Investment Board Increases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 9.6%, now owning 37,919 shares valued at approximately $5.97 million.
• Analysts have set varying price targets for Yum! Brands, with TD Securities recommending a $158.00 target and Melius a $200.00 target, reflecting differing confidence in the stock's performance.
• Insider trading activity included notable sales by the director and CEO, with the director selling 2,038 shares valued at $296,121.40, indicating a decrease in insider ownership.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 9.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,919 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 3,321 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,444,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the first quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 3,614 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.5% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,908 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler raised their target price 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 restated an "overweight" rating and set a $164.00 target price (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Melius assumed coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $161.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,958 shares of company stock valued at $1,455,725 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE YUM opened at $148.19 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $145.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30.

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

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.

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