Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Sold by Cibc World Market Inc.

Cibc World Market Inc. cut its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 29.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,925 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 17,106 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $6,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 3,197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 4,085 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $621,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.5% during the third quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Evercore upgraded Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $179.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 276 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $42,274.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 36,608 shares of company stock worth $5,607,456 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE:YUM opened at $160.38 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $165.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.90, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $154.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.61.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.05%.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.