OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Reduces Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora reduced its stake in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 33.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 240 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $32,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 649.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $130.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $36.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.42, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $132.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.55. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 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.