California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 8,456 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

California State Teachers Retirement System lessened its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 453,147 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 8,456 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.16% of Yum! Brands worth $70,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 649,187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $100,936,000 after buying an additional 1,987 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 56.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 60,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $9,355,000 after purchasing an additional 21,637 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.4% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 199,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,027,000 after buying an additional 18,819 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $1,424,000. Finally, Gateway Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $324,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at $9,522,735.48. The trade was a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 11,896 shares of company stock worth $1,869,148 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.81.

Yum! Brands News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands reported adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share, exceeding the $1.58–$1.59 analyst consensus. Revenue rose 12.2% year over year to $2.17 billion, broadly in line with expectations, while GAAP EPS reached $3.08. Yum Brands Reports Second-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Taco Bell was the main earnings driver, with strong sales, restaurant-level margins, and continued international expansion helping offset weaker performance at Pizza Hut. The result suggests the company entered the quarter with solid operating momentum. Yum Brands Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Taco Bell Strength
• Positive Sentiment: Management said Taco Bell traffic and sales are beginning to recover after the company removed affected lettuce and communicated its response to consumers. Discounts and new menu items are being used to rebuild visits and customer trust. Taco Bell Parent Company Says Sales Already Recovering
• Neutral Sentiment: The reported quarter ended June 30 and largely predates the cyclospora outbreak, limiting the usefulness of the strong results as a guide to current Taco Bell trends. Cyclospora Outbreak Clouds Strong Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Taco Bell same-store sales declined 2% quarter-to-date through July 27 after a multistate cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce sickened thousands of people. The disruption could pressure near-term sales, marketing costs, and margins. Taco Bell Works to Restore Sales Following Cyclospora Outbreak
• Negative Sentiment: Investors received limited detail about the outbreak’s ultimate financial impact, leaving uncertainty around the pace of recovery and potential reputational or legal liabilities. Yum Brands Reports Mixed Results but Gives No Update on Outbreak

Yum! Brands Trading Up 3.4%

YUM stock opened at $157.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $153.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $156.74. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.33 and a 12 month high of $170.14. The company has a market cap of $43.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.