Caprock Group LLC Makes New $297,000 Investment in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUMC. Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Yum China by 350.7% during 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 during 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 last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Yum China during the first quarter worth about $65,645,000. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its stake in Yum China by 56.3% during the second quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Yum China by 171.7% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,069,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,812,000 after buying an additional 1,307,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:YUMC opened at $47.07 on Friday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $52.00. The company has a market cap of $17.88 billion, a PE ratio of 20.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.92 and its 200 day moving average is $37.49.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Yum China’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. 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 1.36%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.