Sarasin & Partners LLP Buys New Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 55,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,863,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 689.6% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 529 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the period. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new position in Yum China in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Yum China by 58.5% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Yum China during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. 85.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Daiwa America upgraded Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.70.

Insider Transactions at Yum China

In related news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total value of $202,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 52,075 shares in the company, valued at $2,634,474.25. The trade was a 7.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $44.26 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.86. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $53.99. The company has a market capitalization of $16.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.17%.

Yum China Company Profile

Yum China Holdings, Inc owns, operates, and franchises restaurants in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through KFC, Pizza Hut, and All Other segments. It operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Lavazza, Little Sheep, and Huang Ji Huang concepts. The company also operates V-Gold Mall, a mobile e-commerce platform to sell products; and offers online food deliver services.