Hodges Capital Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 5,375 Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Yum China in the third quarter valued at $533,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,120,054 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Yum China during the third quarter valued at about $452,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Yum China in the third quarter worth about $239,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the third quarter worth about $2,177,000. 85.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum China Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:YUMC opened at $48.53 on Monday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $52.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.09. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. Yum China’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. On average, 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s payout ratio is 28.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUMC has been the subject of several research reports. 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. Citigroup raised Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum China currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.68.

Insider Activity at Yum China

In related news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum China 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.