Quartz Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE:QSR)

Quartz Partners LLC boosted its stake in Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE:QSR) (TSE:QSR) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,669 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the quarter. Quartz Partners LLC’s holdings in Restaurant Brands International were worth $565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of QSR. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Restaurant Brands International by 123.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Restaurant Brands International in the third quarter valued at $257,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Restaurant Brands International during the third quarter valued at about $4,596,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Restaurant Brands International by 379.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,628,000 after purchasing an additional 17,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden boosted its holdings in shares of Restaurant Brands International by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 157,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,341,000 after purchasing an additional 38,700 shares in the last quarter. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on QSR shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Restaurant Brands International from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Restaurant Brands International from $73.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Restaurant Brands International from $93.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Restaurant Brands International from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Restaurant Brands International from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.96.

Restaurant Brands International Stock Performance

Restaurant Brands International stock opened at $62.26 on Monday. Restaurant Brands International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.67 and a fifty-two week high of $83.29. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $20.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.93.

Restaurant Brands International (NYSE:QSR) (TSE:QSR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The restaurant operator reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.29). Restaurant Brands International had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 28.53%. As a group, analysts expect that Restaurant Brands International Inc. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Restaurant Brands International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This is an increase from Restaurant Brands International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Restaurant Brands International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Joshua Kobza sold 12,420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.20, for a total value of $797,364.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 703,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,161,169. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jill Granat sold 81,387 shares of Restaurant Brands International stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.37, for a total value of $5,645,816.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 388,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,968,211.83. This represents a 17.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,510 shares of company stock worth $7,774,020 in the last three months. 1.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Restaurant Brands International Profile

Restaurant Brands International Inc operates as a quick-service restaurant company in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Tim Hortons (TH), Burger King (BK), Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (PLK), and Firehouse Subs (FHS). The company owns and franchises TH chain of donut/coffee/tea restaurants that offer blend coffee, tea, and espresso-based hot and cold specialty drinks; and fresh baked goods, including donuts, Timbits, bagels, muffins, cookies and pastries, grilled paninis, classic sandwiches, wraps, soups, and other food products.