Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $8.67 Million Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 140.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,364 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,818 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $8,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, DB Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUM. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.75.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $140.10 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $137.56 and its 200 day moving average is $130.54. The firm has a market cap of $39.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its 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). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Company 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.