Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 96,810 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 5,542 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $12,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,984,484.01. This represents a 4.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of YUM traded down $0.29 on Friday, hitting $143.75. 559,152 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,005,340. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The stock's 50 day moving average is $147.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. Yum! Brands's revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $156.70.

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.