Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 79,048 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,804,882 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,048 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.48% of Yum China worth $85,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in Yum China by 53.7% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 43.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 906.5% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 140.3% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the period. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum China during the second quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on YUMC shares. StockNews.com lowered Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.68.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $49.56 on Monday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $52.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $18.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.60.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. Yum China’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid 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 yield of 1.29%. Yum China’s payout ratio is presently 28.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the sale, the insider now owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. This represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% 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.