Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,796 Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in Yum China by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 6,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 1.3% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its position in Yum China by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 57,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,751,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Yum China by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 14,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Yum China Stock Performance

NYSE:YUMC opened at $52.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $53.99. The company has a market cap of $19.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $48.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.38.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is a boost from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.20%.

Insider Activity at Yum China

In related news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,634,474.25. This trade represents a 7.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total value of $1,851,796.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 382,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,021,879.47. The trade was a 8.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,152 shares of company stock valued at $2,242,176 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.