Bank of Montreal Can Cuts Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 23.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 294,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 89,588 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.11% of Yum! Brands worth $43,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $443,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 741.1% in the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $968,000 after purchasing an additional 5,425 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 256,961 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,435,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on YUM. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 30,084 shares of company stock valued at $4,457,537. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:YUM opened at $149.25 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $41.42 billion, a PE ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average of $146.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.18.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 56.02%.

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.