Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 9,087 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 107,569 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 9,087 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $16,350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,807,000 after buying an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 72,653 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,043,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 575,835 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $87,527,000 after buying an additional 5,869 shares during the period. Center for Financial Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 36.3% in the third quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 2,457 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the period. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.4% in the third quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 4,163 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.50.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,365,096. This represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,608 shares of company stock valued at $5,607,456. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $163.10 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $163.78. The firm has a market cap of $45.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $154.12 and its 200-day moving average is $149.47.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.61 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.17%.

About Yum! Brands

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.