Merit Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 6,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 43.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Yum China by 906.5% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in Yum China by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 1,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Yum China during the third quarter valued at about $103,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China in the third quarter valued at about $110,000. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $46.03 on Friday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.50 and a 12 month high of $52.00. The company has a market capitalization of $17.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $46.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

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

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.32%.

Insider Activity at Yum China

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. This represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on YUMC shares. Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.57.

Yum China Company 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.