Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Stake Lessened by Iowa State Bank

Iowa State Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,047 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth $39,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 17,879 shares of company stock worth $2,424,167 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.7 %

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

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

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.