Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Given Average Rating of “Strong Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Strong Buy” by the four brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $48.70.

YUMC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Daiwa America raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th.

Insider Activity at Yum China

In other Yum China news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total value of $202,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 52,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,634,474.25. The trade was a 7.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum China

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Yum China in the first quarter valued at $99,000. Ellsworth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum China during the 1st quarter valued at about $5,185,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 21,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,582 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,547,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,685,000 after acquiring an additional 142,000 shares during the period. Finally, Dean Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 2.2% in the first quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 27,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUMC opened at $43.07 on Friday. Yum China has a 12 month low of $28.50 and a 12 month high of $53.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.28. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.88. 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 (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum China will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.17%.

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.