New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 26,361 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 325,368 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 26,361 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $42,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 8,847 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,439 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $141.81 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $137.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.61. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a PE ratio of 25.37, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly 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 negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly 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 link. In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total transaction of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 172,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,817,351.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.75.

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.