Bank of Montreal Can Increases Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 427,778 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 18,092 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $59,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 3.9% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,518,588.62. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YUM. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE YUM opened at $139.33 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $134.80 and its 200 day moving average is $134.50. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.70 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $38.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

Yum! Brands 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.