Hancock Whitney Corp Sells 104 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Hancock Whitney Corp decreased its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 5.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,993 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 104 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,347 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,497,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.9% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,782 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 153,431 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $21,436,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 109,928 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $15,358,000 after purchasing an additional 11,207 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,759 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM opened at $139.33 on Thursday. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.70 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $38.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.50.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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 directly owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.