Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Acquires 11,631 Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 113.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,842 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 11,631 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the third 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 last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 3,088.9% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 287 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on YUM shares. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to an "inline" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price 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, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.4 %

YUM stock traded down $0.59 during trading on Monday, reaching $136.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,741,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,948,339. The company has a market capitalization of $38.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50 day moving average is $134.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.72. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $123.70 and a one year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $169,414.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at $169,414.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,622 shares of company stock valued at $4,172,740 over the last three months. 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.