Waverton Investment Management Ltd Grows Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 932,527 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 154,485 shares during the quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd owned approximately 0.24% of Yum China worth $28,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum China by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 4.4% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Yum China by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. now owns 3,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in Yum China by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 5,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 53.7% in the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Macquarie upgraded shares of Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum China news, Director Robert Blaine Aiken, Jr. bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $33.74 per share, for a total transaction of $101,220.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 12,088 shares in the company, valued at $407,849.12. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CTO Leila Zhang purchased 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $33.36 per share, with a total value of $133,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief technology officer now directly owns 41,339 shares in the company, valued at $1,379,069.04. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Blaine Aiken, Jr. purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $33.74 per share, with a total value of $101,220.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 12,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $407,849.12. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 18,400 shares of company stock worth $619,671. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of Yum China stock opened at $34.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.23. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $28.50 and a one year high of $58.21. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $31.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.94. The company has a market cap of $13.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.34.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.08. Yum China had a net margin of 7.61% and a return on equity of 12.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 32.16%.

Yum China Company 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.