Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 16,900 Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 16,900 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,208,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Clear Street Markets LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 28,400.0% in the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $41,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.1 %

YUM stock opened at $137.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $38.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $136.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $130.02.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.67 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Yum! Brands

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.