Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Trims Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,352 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 5,099 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $14,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 17.4% during the second quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 587 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $138.21 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.45. The stock has a market cap of $38.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.83, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.41 and a 12 month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. The trade was a 4.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965 over the last quarter. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by 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.