Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Sells 1,231,963 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lessened its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 88.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 157,442 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,231,963 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned 0.06% of Yum! Brands worth $21,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Infusive Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.1% during the third quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,419 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,066,000 after acquiring an additional 5,684 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 94,810 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $13,246,000 after purchasing an additional 10,363 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,153 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 9,637 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 117,959 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,480,000 after buying an additional 9,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $138.94 on Monday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.70 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $135.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.51. The firm has a market cap of $38.77 billion, a PE ratio of 25.97, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

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

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.