Alliancebernstein L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,197,784 shares of the company’s stock after selling 343,556 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Yum China were worth $250,377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Yum China by 58.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 878 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum China by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The stock was 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 directly owns 56,602 shares in the company, valued at $2,728,782.42. This represents a 6.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total value of $202,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares in the company, valued at $2,634,474.25. This trade represents a 7.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,152 shares of company stock valued at $2,242,176. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUMC opened at $52.12 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $19.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 $53.99.

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

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. This is a positive change from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Yum China’s payout ratio is presently 41.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.