Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Acquired by New York State Teachers Retirement System

Key Points

• New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its Yum! Brands stake by 6.0% in Q1, ending with 222,497 shares valued at about $34.6 million. Institutional ownership remains high, with funds and hedge funds holding 82.37% of the stock.
• Yum! Brands reported strong first-quarter results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and revenue rose 15.2% year over year. Analysts currently view the stock as a Moderate Buy with a consensus target price of $176.12.
• The company approved a $4 billion share repurchase program, authorizing buybacks of up to 9.4% of outstanding shares. Yum! also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, equal to a 1.8% annualized yield.

New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 6.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 222,497 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 12,625 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.08% of Yum! Brands worth $34,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Steph & Co. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Jessup Wealth Management Inc bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 3,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $40,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,272,013.44. This trade represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised Yum! Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and set a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $176.12.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $164.20 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $153.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.43. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business's revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc NYSE: YUM is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company's principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company's operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.

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