American National Bank & Trust Has $2.75 Million Stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

American National Bank & Trust lowered its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,693 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,667 shares during the quarter. American National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $2,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of YUM. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.2% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 60,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,457,000 after purchasing an additional 2,990 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $456,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter worth approximately $6,156,000. Centennial Bank AR increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 1,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

YUM stock opened at $139.54 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $39.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50 day moving average is $134.72 and its 200 day moving average is $135.40.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on YUM shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total value of $9,745,355.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares in the company, valued at $9,326.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,629 shares of company stock valued at $13,888,443 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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.