Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. Sells 124,455 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. decreased its position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 43.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 158,938 shares of the company's stock after selling 124,455 shares during the quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.'s holdings in Yum China were worth $7,155,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in YUMC. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Yum China by 16.0% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 266,021 shares of the company's stock worth $10,585,000 after buying an additional 36,660 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Yum China by 17.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 262,854 shares of the company's stock worth $10,459,000 after buying an additional 39,231 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. raised its stake in shares of Yum China by 13.4% in the first quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 36,638 shares of the company's stock worth $1,458,000 after buying an additional 4,328 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Yum China in the first quarter worth about $425,000. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association raised its stake in shares of Yum China by 26.0% in the first quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 6,413 shares of the company's stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 1,322 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on YUMC. StockNews.com upgraded Yum China from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Macquarie upgraded Yum China from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum China currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $51.68.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of YUMC stock traded down $0.02 on Friday, reaching $47.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,767,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,972,201. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $43.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.14. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $52.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $17.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.36.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Yum China's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

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

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.