Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

YUMC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum China currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $49.57.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $48.58 on Friday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $47.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.04. The company has a market cap of $18.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $52.00.

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

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,948.27. The trade was a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum China

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Yum China by 53.7% in the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 43.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Yum China by 906.5% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Yum China by 140.3% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the period. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum China by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 2,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

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.