Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Shares Sold by Iowa State Bank

Iowa State Bank lowered its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,047 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 244 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 19.4% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 92,608 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $12,011,000 after acquiring an additional 15,034 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 81,561 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,121 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 23,148 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,066,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.5% in the second quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,991 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 25.5% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 7,097 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $940,000 after buying an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on YUM. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.7 %

YUM traded down $2.21 during trading on Monday, reaching $131.23. The stock had a trading volume of 627,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,444,698. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.76 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $135.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.06.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 17,879 shares of company stock worth $2,424,167 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.