First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Increases Stock Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,054 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 309 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Yum China were worth $677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of YUMC. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yum China by 43.9% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Yum China by 906.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners grew its holdings in Yum China by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 1,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new position in Yum China during the 3rd quarter valued at about $103,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Yum China during the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum China

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of Yum China 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,948.27. The trade was a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of YUMC opened at $45.27 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.52. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $52.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Yum China’s payout ratio is presently 28.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on YUMC. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.57.

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.