Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $46.59, but opened at $45.01. Yum China shares last traded at $44.96, with a volume of 372,560 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 21st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum China has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.57.

Yum China Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.96. The stock has a market cap of $16.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.74, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.35.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is 28.32%.

Insider Activity at Yum China

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YUMC. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Yum China by 4,176.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,505,053 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 350.7% in 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 49.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,206,000 after acquiring an additional 2,609,494 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its holdings in shares of Yum China by 56.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in Yum China by 171.7% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,069,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Company 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.