Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Invests $533,000 in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in YUMC. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in Yum China by 53.7% during the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Yum China by 43.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Yum China by 906.5% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Yum China by 140.3% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum China in the second quarter worth $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $49.69 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $18.87 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $52.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

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

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s payout ratio is 28.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $789,948.27. This represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on YUMC. Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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 research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.68.

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.