Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al trimmed its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 12.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 544,278 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 78,900 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $74,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,012,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,293 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,312,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board now owns 8,465 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,154,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Arrow Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrow Financial Corp now owns 10,117 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the third quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 30,035 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,095,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 241 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.89, for a total transaction of $32,990.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 482 shares in the company, valued at $65,980.98. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Turner sold 285 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.11, for a total transaction of $39,931.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 63,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,858,454.75. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 12,778 shares of company stock worth $1,966,393 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands’ share price recently crossed above its 200-day moving average, a technical signal that may attract momentum-oriented investors and suggest improving market sentiment. Yum! Brands Share Price Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average
• Positive Sentiment: A valuation analysis argues that YUM may still trade below its estimated fair value despite a strong multiyear shareholder return, supporting the view that the stock could have additional upside if expected cash-flow growth materializes. Yum! Brands Stock Looks Below Fair Value
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are watching continued KFC expansion and international growth as potential drivers of third-quarter results. These areas could offset weakness in the U.S. and reinforce Yum’s long-term growth strategy. YUM Set to Report Q3 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Yum! Brands is being highlighted alongside other large restaurant dividend stocks, which may support investor interest but does not represent a new company-specific catalyst. Restaurant Dividend Stocks to Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Pre-earnings analysis is focusing on sales, same-store performance, margins and other operating metrics for the quarter ended September 2026. The reports provide context but no actual quarterly results yet. Unlocking Q3 Potential of Yum
• Negative Sentiment: Taco Bell’s U.S. business is facing sales and margin pressure, creating a risk that weaker domestic trends could temper the benefit from KFC and international growth. KFC Growth and Taco Bell Trends in Focus

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:YUM opened at $155.24 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.48. The stock has a market cap of $42.36 billion, a PE ratio of 24.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $134.26 and a fifty-two week high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 37.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Gordon Haskett dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $182.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $180.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.65.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that operates, franchises and licenses quick-service and fast-casual restaurants. Its principal brands are KFC, which specializes in fried and other chicken products; Taco Bell, which offers Mexican-inspired food; Pizza Hut, which sells pizzas and related menu items; and The Habit Burger Grill, a fast-casual burger restaurant chain.

The company’s business is primarily franchise-based, with restaurants operated by independent franchisees and licensees alongside company-operated locations.