Metis Global Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Metis Global Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,642 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,529 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 256,961 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,435,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at about $1,172,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 11.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 498,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $78,459,000 after buying an additional 51,419 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth about $304,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 458.8% during the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 30,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,844,000 after buying an additional 25,272 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total transaction of $189,550.53. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,559.68. This represents a 95.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total value of $261,161.55. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,112 shares of company stock worth $4,760,814. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.29.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $148.84 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $146.49 and a 200 day moving average of $146.25.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.36%.

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.