Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on YUMC. Citigroup raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Performance

NYSE:YUMC opened at $49.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released 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 analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Yum China will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUMC. Tyro Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Yum China in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,086,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum China by 4.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,804,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,023,000 after buying an additional 79,048 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp acquired a new position in Yum China during the third quarter worth $944,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Yum China during the third quarter worth $229,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Yum China in the third quarter valued at $868,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

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.