Bank of Montreal Can Sells 218,664 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Bank of Montreal Can reduced its holdings in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 47.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 238,541 shares of the company’s stock after selling 218,664 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.06% of Yum China worth $10,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YUMC. Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,270,560 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 49.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,206,000 after buying an additional 2,609,494 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,582,859 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Yum China by 171.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Lind Value II ApS purchased a new stake in Yum China in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,246,000. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. This trade represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on YUMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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. Macquarie upgraded shares of Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum China has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.68.

Yum China Price Performance

YUMC opened at $46.55 on Monday. 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 50-day moving average of $46.08 and a 200 day moving average of $37.78. 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 $17.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.36.

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

Yum China Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.