Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Bought by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

Key Points

• VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al increased its Yum! Brands stake by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, adding 143,300 shares to bring its total to 752,000 shares valued at about $113.8 million.
• Yum! Brands reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting $1.50 EPS versus $1.39 estimated and revenue of $2.06 billion versus $2.04 billion expected, with revenue up 15.2% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly constructive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $176.22, even as CEO Christopher Lee Turner and other insiders sold shares in recent months.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 23.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 752,000 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 143,300 shares during the quarter. Yum! Brands makes up approximately 0.7% of VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned 0.27% of Yum! Brands worth $113,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 833.3% during the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 224 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $152.91 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $169.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $158.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.95. The stock has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $40,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,552 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,359,304.96. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total value of $265,383.56. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,665 shares of company stock worth $437,283 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $180.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $176.22.

Yum! Brands Profile

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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