Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 51.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,588 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 11,254 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $1,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 30.8% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 38,388 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,363,000 after buying an additional 9,046 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at approximately $479,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 352,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,234,000 after acquiring an additional 10,526 shares during the period. Finally, JB Capital LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at $208,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on YUM shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.42.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $162.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $138.84 and its 200 day moving average is $136.39.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Yum! Brands 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.