abrdn plc Grows Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

abrdn plc increased its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 417,348 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 46,819 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc owned about 0.11% of Yum China worth $20,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUMC. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 350.7% in the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company's stock worth $189,202,000 after buying an additional 3,270,560 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Yum China by 4,176.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company's stock valued at $161,576,000 after buying an additional 3,505,053 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Yum China by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,552,629 shares of the company's stock valued at $159,939,000 after buying an additional 11,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in Yum China by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,942,959 shares of the company's stock worth $132,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120,054 shares during the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum China presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $49.57.

Yum China Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:YUMC traded down $0.45 during trading on Monday, hitting $47.99. The company had a trading volume of 3,615,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,333,692. The stock has a market cap of $18.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.53. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $28.50 and a one year high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. This is an increase from Yum China's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Yum China's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Yum China 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.