iA Global Asset Management Inc. Purchases 4,955 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 83.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,907 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,955 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUM. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,727 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,918,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 455.3% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 14,149 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 11,601 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $4,094,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 217,547 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $30,393,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares during the period. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $959,600.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,307,396.90. This trade represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America decreased 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $137.63 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $38.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $135.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.43. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.70 and a 1 year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

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.