New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $37.67 Million Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 269,655 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 37,800 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.10% of Yum! Brands worth $37,674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 24.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $4,022,648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,607,517 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after buying an additional 3,470,883 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $200,668,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 10.2% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after buying an additional 1,362,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 36.6% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,174,526 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $301,498,000 after buying an additional 582,267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,326.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,918,095 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded up $1.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $132.34. 1,888,556 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,415,347. The company has a market cap of $37.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.10. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $134.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.87. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.79 and a twelve month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to an "inline" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $146.44.

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.