Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Yum China (NYSE:YUMC)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) by 14.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,358 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,958 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum China were worth $2,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Yum China by 4,967.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 98,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,149,000 after buying an additional 96,962 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum China by 35.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,102,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $734,150,000 after buying an additional 3,704,756 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in Yum China by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 31,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 8,016 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Yum China during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,863,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Yum China during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,836,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Daiwa America upgraded Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum China currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.70.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $47.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $17.63 billion, a PE ratio of 19.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.35. Yum China has a 12 month low of $28.50 and a 12 month high of $53.99.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 14.08% and a net margin of 8.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Yum China will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.