Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 115,627 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 89.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 245,508 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 115,627 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.09% of Yum! Brands worth $36,379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $142.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $39.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.20, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.28.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.14.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total transaction of $41,962.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $267,795.45. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,078 shares of company stock worth $4,304,785 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is 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.