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

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 51.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,588 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 11,254 shares during the quarter. 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 17.9% in the third 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 period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 30.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at $479,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 352,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,234,000 after acquiring an additional 10,526 shares during the period. Finally, JB Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth $208,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM 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 PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $138.84 and a 200 day moving average of $136.39. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.42.

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.