Verition Fund Management LLC Sells 6,806 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Verition Fund Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 39.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,259 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,806 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Yum China were worth $462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Yum China by 4,176.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,576,000 after buying an additional 3,505,053 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Yum China by 350.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 49.6% in the third 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 period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 56.3% during the second quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,859 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 171.7% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,069,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307,574 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In related news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,948.27. This trade represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $49.46 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $46.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.37. The company has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.89, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.50 and a 12 month high of $52.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on YUMC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.68.

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.