AMF Tjanstepension AB Raises Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 48.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,810 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,506 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Yum China were worth $665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Waverton Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,270,560 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China in the third quarter worth approximately $2,177,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 100.2% in the third 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 last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 21.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,510,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,017,000 after acquiring an additional 441,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 56,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,794,000 after acquiring an additional 8,101 shares during the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total transaction of $188,019.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,728,782.42. The trade was a 6.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total transaction of $1,851,796.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 382,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,021,879.47. The trade was a 8.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum China Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $49.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $52.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $46.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.76.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 13.83%. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. This is a boost from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s payout ratio is 41.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th.

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.