Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the four research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.18.

Separately, Macquarie upgraded Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Yum China Price Performance

Yum China stock opened at $45.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.67 billion, a PE ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.34. Yum China has a one year low of $28.50 and a one year high of $56.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.22.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Yum China will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. Yum China’s payout ratio is presently 32.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other news, insider Warton Wang purchased 3,700 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $34.67 per share, for a total transaction of $128,279.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 25,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,547.41. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $32.72 per share, for a total transaction of $127,608.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,608. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Warton Wang acquired 3,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $34.67 per share, with a total value of $128,279.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 25,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $867,547.41. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 18,400 shares of company stock worth $619,671. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum China

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its position in shares of Yum China by 38.4% in the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 12,223,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $486,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,389,987 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in Yum China by 23,769.2% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,165,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,313,000 after purchasing an additional 3,152,269 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Yum China in the first quarter valued at approximately $65,645,000. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 56.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,203,000 after buying an additional 1,582,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Yum China by 171.7% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,069,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,812,000 after buying an additional 1,307,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

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.