Bank of Montreal Can Trims Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Bank of Montreal Can trimmed its position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 47.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 238,541 shares of the company’s stock after selling 218,664 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Yum China were worth $10,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Yum China by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,967,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $369,073,000 after acquiring an additional 121,617 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum China by 49.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609,494 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its position in shares of Yum China by 56.3% in the second quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,203,000 after buying an additional 1,582,859 shares in the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Yum China by 350.7% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,202,000 after buying an additional 3,270,560 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Yum China by 0.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,552,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,939,000 after buying an additional 11,535 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUMC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Macquarie raised shares of Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of YUMC opened at $46.55 on Monday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $52.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.78. The firm has a market cap of $17.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.36.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 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 Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.32%.

Insider Transactions at Yum China

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,948.27. This trade represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.