FourThought Financial Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 399.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,727,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,980,589 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Yum China in the 4th quarter worth about $434,000. Callan Capital LLC raised its position in Yum China by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 8,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 153,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,370,000 after purchasing an additional 49,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Yum China by 917.9% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 79,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,825,000 after purchasing an additional 71,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Yum China

In other news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total value of $188,019.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 56,602 shares in the company, valued at $2,728,782.42. The trade was a 6.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum China has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.57.

Yum China Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $47.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.64 and a 200-day moving average of $43.94. 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 stock has a market cap of $18.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.33. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.50 and a 1-year high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 13.83%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.20%.

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.