Mizuho Securities USA LLC Has $3.55 Million Stock Holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 45.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,450 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 8,218 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Securities upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $151.79.

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Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded up $1.34 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $157.14. The company had a trading volume of 315,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,878,172. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $145.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $138.18. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $43.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.12, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Company 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.