Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) have earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.68.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on YUMC shares. StockNews.com cut Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup raised Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Yum China Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $49.56 on Monday. Yum China has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-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. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $46.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.36.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Yum China will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. The trade was a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum China

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 43.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 906.5% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 140.3% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the period. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum China in the second quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

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.