Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Buys 410 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,417 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Yum China were worth $1,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Yum China by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,397,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,841,000 after acquiring an additional 2,531,518 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in Yum China by 350.7% during the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,202,000 after acquiring an additional 3,270,560 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Yum China by 399.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,727,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,980,589 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 4,176.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,505,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,942,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120,054 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity at Yum China

In related news, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total transaction of $1,851,796.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 382,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,021,879.47. This trade represents a 8.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 56,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,728,782.42. This trade represents a 6.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Yum China Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $49.72 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $46.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.84. The company has a market cap of $18.70 billion, a PE ratio of 21.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $52.00. 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 (NYSE:YUMC) last issued 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%. Equities analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.20%.

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.