Metis Global Partners LLC Sells 2,427 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Metis Global Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,472 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 2,427 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gallacher Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 45,038 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,885,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $390,000. Pointe Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,000. Finally, Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,075 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the subject of several research reports. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $134.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total value of $859,222.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Yum! Brands news, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total transaction of $859,222.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,373 shares of company stock valued at $4,087,920 in the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $135.91 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $138.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $131.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current year.

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.