Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,434 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NS Partners Ltd lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 179,387 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,062,000 after buying an additional 2,814 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth about $341,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $4,081,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.6% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,214 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 7,112 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $994,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 155,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. This trade represents a 4.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on YUM. Loop Capital cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $134.22 on Friday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $123.70 and a one year high of $143.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $134.42 and its 200-day moving average is $134.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.