Insider Selling: Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Insider Sells 6,377 Shares of Stock

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value 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. This represents a 27.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Yum China Stock Down 4.5 %

YUMC stock opened at $45.45 on Wednesday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $45.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.50 and a 52-week high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 28.32%.

Institutional Trading of Yum China

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum China by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 255,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,523,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Yum China by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 127,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,081,000 after buying an additional 16,981 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Yum China by 350.7% in the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,202,000 after buying an additional 3,270,560 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 100.2% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 35,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after acquiring an additional 17,898 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted 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 valued at $63,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307,574 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Macquarie upgraded Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.68.

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.