Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Shares Sold by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 798 shares of the company’s stock after selling 692 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Yum China were worth $36,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Yum China by 1.2% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 25,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in Yum China by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,067,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum China by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $570,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Finally, Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. now owns 3,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,948.27. This trade represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on YUMC shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum China presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.68.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $48.71 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.79. The company has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.50 and a twelve 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 quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.32%.

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.