NewEdge Advisors LLC Raises Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 53.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,686 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,393 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum China were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,397,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,841,000 after purchasing an additional 2,531,518 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Yum China by 138.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,558,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $412,241,000 after buying an additional 4,969,073 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum China in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $243,901,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Yum China by 117.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,751,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $228,890,000 after buying an additional 2,570,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Yum China by 95.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,580,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,644,000 after buying an additional 2,238,720 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Stock Up 2.6 %

YUMC opened at $46.75 on Tuesday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $28.50 and a one year high of $53.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $48.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.33.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 41.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on YUMC. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.70.

Insider Transactions at Yum China

In other Yum China news, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total value of $1,851,796.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 382,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,021,879.47. The trade was a 8.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 52,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,634,474.25. This represents a 7.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,152 shares of company stock valued at $2,242,176. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.