New York State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 214,057 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 11,196 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Yum! Brands worth $28,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,165 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 4,927 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded up $1.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $148.43. 1,354,328 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,192,754. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $149.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $147.37.

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.