Mizuho Securities USA LLC Has $3.52 Million Stock Position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC decreased its stake in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,345 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 4,105 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on YUM shares. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $161.23.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.9%

YUM opened at $141.34 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $145.49 and a 200-day moving average of $147.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 56.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,231.40. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total value of $1,043,352.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,983 shares of company stock worth $2,187,764 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.