Commerce Bank Sells 8,016 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Commerce Bank reduced its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 8.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,781 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 8,016 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $13,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $338,296,000 after acquiring an additional 24,681 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,171 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $306,444,000 after acquiring an additional 244,264 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,045,475 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $274,421,000 after acquiring an additional 258,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,954,145 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $307,504,000 after acquiring an additional 27,355 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. This trade represents a 6.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total value of $40,332.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,965. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $145.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a PEG ratio of 2.10 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $145.65 and a 200-day moving average of $146.26.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on YUM. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.86.

Yum! Brands 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.