Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 377 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,548 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,098,801 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $330,267,000 after purchasing an additional 53,326 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,954,145 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $307,504,000 after purchasing an additional 27,355 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 28.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $305,286,000 after purchasing an additional 430,511 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.4% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,700,298 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $267,559,000 after purchasing an additional 23,008 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,154.90. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,195 shares of company stock worth $5,348,137 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on YUM shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.48.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.8%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $141.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.88.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.02%.

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.