Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Boosts Holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,785 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Yum China were worth $3,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUMC. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Yum China by 49.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,206,000 after acquiring an additional 2,609,494 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum China during the third quarter valued at approximately $296,000. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Yum China by 19.9% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,642 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 66.2% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 19,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $857,000 after buying an additional 7,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Yum China in the third quarter worth $2,251,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Yum China Trading Up 5.0 %

NYSE YUMC opened at $51.53 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.41. The stock has a market cap of $19.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $52.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. On average, analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. This is a positive change from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.20%.

Insider Transactions at Yum China

In other news, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total value of $1,851,796.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 382,657 shares in the company, valued at $19,021,879.47. This represents a 8.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,634,474.25. This represents a 7.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,152 shares of company stock worth $2,242,176 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.