Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Purchased by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 409,686 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,256 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $54,267,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 5,607,517 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,512,561,000 after acquiring an additional 3,470,883 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $200,668,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,254,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $163,906,000 after purchasing an additional 649,922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 101,629 shares of company stock worth $13,888,443. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $133.12 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.53 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $133.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on YUM. Evercore ISI lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.25.

Yum! Brands Company 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.