Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

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

A number of other research firms also recently commented on YUMC. Macquarie upgraded Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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 research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of YUMC traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $47.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,767,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,972,201. The company has a market cap of $17.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.61 and a 200 day moving average of $37.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Yum China has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced 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. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum China will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in YUMC. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Yum China by 4,176.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,576,000 after buying an additional 3,505,053 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its stake in Yum China by 38.4% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 12,223,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $486,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,389,987 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Yum China by 350.7% in the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,202,000 after purchasing an additional 3,270,560 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609,494 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Yum China during the first quarter valued at approximately $65,645,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Company 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.