Bank of Montreal Can Purchases 86,952 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 381,619 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 86,952 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.14% of Yum! Brands worth $58,006,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 695,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $105,649,000 after buying an additional 8,888 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 115.8% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $197,013,000 after acquiring an additional 703,891 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in Yum! Brands by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $52,804,000 after purchasing an additional 57,112 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $413,382,000 after purchasing an additional 713,167 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 267,162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,609,000 after purchasing an additional 11,532 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.1%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $158.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.76 billion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.33 and a 12-month high of $169.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $158.49 and its 200 day moving average is $151.75.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.61 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

Key Yum! Brands News

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Yum reported strong Q4 results, rising operating profit and system momentum with ~4,500 new restaurant openings globally — evidence the franchise-led model is scaling and supporting revenue and margin guidance. Did Yum!’s Q4 Beat and 4,500 New Openings Just Shift Yum! Brands’ (YUM) Investment Narrative?
• Positive Sentiment: Pizza Hut rolled out the “Hut Crust” platform and a $10 large three‑topping promotion (first recipe update in over a decade) to drive traffic and AUV lift for the Pizza Hut brand. Product refreshes like this can help close the gap with competitors on value and relevance. PIZZA HUT LAUNCHES HUT CRUST PLATFORM FOR CRUST LOVERS & SETS OUT TO HIRE FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND HUT CRUST CONNOISSEUR
• Positive Sentiment: KFC (a Yum brand) launched a limited-time “20 Wings for $20” bracket‑season value promotion — a national, high-visibility deal that should boost traffic and basket sizes during a key hosting period. KFC® Turns Up the Heat for Bracket Season with 20 Wings for 20*
• Positive Sentiment: Franchise expansion activity in Europe — e.g., Collins Foods acquiring KFC outlets in Germany — signals continued third‑party investment in the KFC model and incremental international growth for Yum’s ecosystem. Collins Foods to acquire eight KFC outlets in Germany
• Neutral Sentiment: Domino’s is reporting strong same-store sales momentum driven by digital orders, value deals and global expansion — competitive strength at DPZ could pressure Pizza Hut and category share, but also signals robust pizza demand overall. Can Domino’s Same-Store Sales Strength Support Retail Growth in 2026?
• Neutral Sentiment: Papa John’s continues to invest in digital and loyalty to drive repeat orders — a competitive initiative that matters regionally but is not an immediate threat to Yum’s scale. Can Papa John’s Digital Investments & Loyalty Expansion Drive Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports of takeover interest in Papa John’s and related market moves lift volatility across the pizza peer group but are indirect for Yum; useful for industry comps and M&A sentiment. Papa John’s Stock Jumps on Reported Takeover Bid
• Negative Sentiment: Analysis pieces flag Yum! as underperforming the Dow in recent stretches, which could weigh on sentiment and limit near‑term multiple expansion despite operational wins. Is Yum! Brands Stock Underperforming the Dow?

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. This trade represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $40,176.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.50.

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.