Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey Acquires 1,505 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,299 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,505 shares during the quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 78.0% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Private Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 219.4% during the second quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $149.11 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $146.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.33. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.29.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total transaction of $419,839.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,010,292. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total value of $261,161.55. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 13,538 shares of company stock valued at $2,029,594 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.