Davis R M Inc. Purchases New Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Davis R M Inc. acquired a new position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Yum China by 1.0% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,967,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $369,073,000 after buying an additional 121,617 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum China by 49.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,206,000 after acquiring an additional 2,609,494 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 56.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,859 shares in the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Yum China by 350.7% during the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,202,000 after acquiring an additional 3,270,560 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,552,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,939,000 after purchasing an additional 11,535 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Macquarie raised shares of Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.68.

Yum China Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $47.60 on Tuesday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $52.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $44.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.49. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.32%.

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.