Holocene Advisors LP Buys New Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 298,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,450,000. Holocene Advisors LP owned 0.08% of Yum China as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 4,176.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company's stock worth $161,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,505,053 shares in the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Yum China by 350.7% in the third 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. grew its stake in Yum China by 49.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company's stock valued at $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609,494 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its position in shares of Yum China by 56.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Yum China by 171.7% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,069,134 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307,574 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 value of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $789,948.27. This represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on YUMC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup raised Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com raised Yum China from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Macquarie raised Yum China from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Performance

YUMC remained flat at $47.14 during trading on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 1,199,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,178,235. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.36. The business's 50 day moving average price is $46.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.50 and a 52-week high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The firm's revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. Yum China's payout ratio is currently 28.32%.

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.