Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Insider Sells $53,790.30 in Stock

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) insider Pingping Liu sold 1,062 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.65, for a total transaction of $53,790.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 22,573 shares in the company, valued at $1,143,322.45. This represents a 4.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Yum China Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Yum China stock opened at $49.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Yum China has a 1 year low of $39.72 and a 1 year high of $58.39. The firm has a market cap of $16.52 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.86.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.50 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. Analysts expect that Yum China will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 1st. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 40.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum China

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YUMC. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Yum China by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 22,606,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,111,135,000 after purchasing an additional 649,629 shares during the period. W1M Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Yum China in the second quarter valued at approximately $320,227,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Yum China in the second quarter valued at approximately $146,826,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Yum China during the second quarter valued at approximately $96,255,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 19.1% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,120,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,168,000 after purchasing an additional 339,552 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUMC has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Yum China in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Yum China from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.21.

About Yum China

Yum China Holdings operates quick-service and casual-dining restaurants in China. Its portfolio includes KFC and Pizza Hut, along with local and regional brands such as Little Sheep and Huang Ji Huang. The company was separated from Yum! Brands in 2016 and became an independent, publicly traded company. Its restaurants serve a range of meals and beverages, including fried chicken, burgers, pizza, hot pot and other Chinese-style dishes, as well as coffee. Yum China also offers delivery and digital ordering services through its apps and other platforms.