Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,700 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first 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 last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $25,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE YUM opened at $141.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $147.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.88. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $164.00 price target (down previously from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $161.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $41,962.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $267,795.45. The trade was a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total value of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,195 shares of company stock worth $5,348,137. 0.33% 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.