D.A. Davidson & CO. Grows Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,692 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Yum China were worth $1,067,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Yum China in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $159,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 15.3% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 127,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,081,000 after purchasing an additional 16,981 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 2.8% during the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 27,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Yum China by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 6,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS raised its position in Yum China by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 27,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. The trade was a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Yum China stock 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.78. 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 market capitalization of $17.68 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.36.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.32%.

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.