Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) was upgraded by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $60.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $35.50. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 20.45% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on YUMC. Macquarie upgraded Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:YUMC opened at $49.82 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $19.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China has a 12 month low of $28.50 and a 12 month high of $51.68. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.65.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Yum China’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yum China will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Yum China news, Director Robert Blaine Aiken, Jr. purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $33.74 per share, for a total transaction of $101,220.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 12,088 shares in the company, valued at $407,849.12. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Yum China news, CTO Leila Zhang acquired 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $33.36 per share, with a total value of $133,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 41,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,379,069.04. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Blaine Aiken, Jr. bought 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $33.74 per share, with a total value of $101,220.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 12,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $407,849.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $619,671. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum China

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Yum China by 53.7% in the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China in the first quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.