Iowa State Bank Purchases 525 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM

Iowa State Bank increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,213 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the quarter. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of YUM. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at about $97,453,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,367,427,000 after buying an additional 483,918 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2,288.1% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 502,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $74,426,000 after purchasing an additional 481,235 shares during the period. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,352,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,940,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $305,286,000 after purchasing an additional 430,511 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on YUM. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.32.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $179,154.90. This represents a 62.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,195 shares of company stock worth $5,348,137. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.5%

YUM stock opened at $150.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $147.13.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

Yum! Brands Company 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.