Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 2,642 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,826 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 2,642 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $4,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $156.20.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM traded up $0.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $149.21. 1,972,015 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,012,596. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $151.79 and a 200-day moving average of $140.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

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 stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.