Teacher Retirement System of Texas Raises Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 947.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,737 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 17,852 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 121,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,360,000 after purchasing an additional 6,042 shares in the last quarter. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth $416,000. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 50,273 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,745,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $3,534,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 5,807 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of YUM opened at $155.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $43.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.82, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $145.25 and a 200-day moving average of $138.18.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.79.

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.