Teacher Retirement System of Texas Boosts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 558.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 129,881 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 110,144 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $20,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,021,194,000 after acquiring an additional 163,462 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $418,692,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $338,296,000 after purchasing an additional 24,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $306,444,000 after buying an additional 244,264 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $150.00. 1,284,289 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,002,705. The stock has a market cap of $41.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.88, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The firm's fifty day moving average is $145.68 and its 200-day moving average is $144.01.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the company'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 value of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. The trade was a 4.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,742 shares of company stock valued at $1,861,504 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on YUM. Barclays upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $157.86.

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.