Southland Equity Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Southland Equity Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum China by 49.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,206,000 after buying an additional 2,609,494 shares in the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Yum China by 350.7% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,202,000 after acquiring an additional 3,270,560 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Yum China by 4,176.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,505,053 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Yum China by 0.3% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,552,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,939,000 after acquiring an additional 11,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its position in Yum China by 61.4% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,942,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120,054 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a 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 Stock Performance

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $46.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.48 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.94 and a 200-day moving average of $41.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $28.50 and a one year high of $52.00.

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

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.32%.

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.