American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 16.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 600,068 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 86,769 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Yum China worth $28,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum China during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,177,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Yum China by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 56,896 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,794,000 after buying an additional 8,101 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Yum China in the fourth quarter worth approximately $322,000. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter worth $809,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter valued at $31,836,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th.

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Insider Transactions at Yum China

In related news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total value of $188,019.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,728,782.42. This trade represents a 6.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total transaction of $1,851,796.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 382,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,021,879.47. This trade represents a 8.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 45,152 shares of company stock valued at $2,242,176. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of YUMC traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $53.28. 2,598,445 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,808,608. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.50 and a 52-week high of $53.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.32. The company's 50-day moving average price is $49.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.03.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from Yum China's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Yum China's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.20%.

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.