Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Boosts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,818 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,766,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $720,485,000 after purchasing an additional 210,238 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,278,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $409,596,000 after buying an additional 124,080 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 121.8% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,819,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $227,367,000 after buying an additional 999,443 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,521,511 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $190,098,000 after buying an additional 12,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,266,114 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $165,430,000 after acquiring an additional 69,703 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on YUM shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,373 shares of company stock valued at $4,087,920. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

YUM stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $136.21. 129,025 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,988,134. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $138.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $131.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.