FourThought Financial Partners LLC Takes Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 6,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Yum China by 4,176.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,505,053 shares in the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 350.7% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,202,000 after buying an additional 3,270,560 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Yum China by 399.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,727,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,556,000 after buying an additional 2,980,589 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Yum China by 49.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,206,000 after buying an additional 2,609,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its stake in Yum China by 61.4% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,942,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120,054 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total transaction of $188,019.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 56,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,728,782.42. This represents a 6.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on YUMC shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.57.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of Yum China stock opened at $47.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.94. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.50 and a 12 month high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. This is a boost from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s payout ratio is presently 41.20%.

About Yum China

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.