Palouse Capital Management Inc. Takes $789,000 Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 25,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUMC. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Yum China in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Yum China by 53.7% in the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum China during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 3,107.1% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum China in the first quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other news, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.72 per share, with a total value of $127,608.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 3,900 shares in the company, valued at $127,608. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $32.72 per share, with a total value of $127,608.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $127,608. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Warton Wang acquired 3,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $34.67 per share, for a total transaction of $128,279.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 25,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,547.41. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 18,400 shares of company stock worth $619,671 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Macquarie raised Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum China has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.20.

Yum China Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $34.83 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $58.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $32.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.34.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 7.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.16%.

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.