Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Bought by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,266,114 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after buying an additional 69,703 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.45% of Yum! Brands worth $165,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 531,103 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $69,596,000 after acquiring an additional 198,069 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 112,905 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,752,000 after acquiring an additional 16,124 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,689 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $711,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 11,541.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 141,678 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $18,512,000 after acquiring an additional 140,461 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of YUM traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $140.10. 2,140,479 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,936,988. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.24. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $137.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.54.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. Yum! Brands's quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 47.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $144.75.

Yum! Brands 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.