Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Stake Lessened by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV lowered its position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 17.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 310,533 shares of the company's stock after selling 64,983 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned 0.08% of Yum China worth $13,980,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parthenon LLC acquired a new position in Yum China during the 3rd quarter worth $243,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum China in the 3rd quarter valued at about $296,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 100.2% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 35,760 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,610,000 after buying an additional 17,898 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 350.7% in the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company's stock valued at $189,202,000 after buying an additional 3,270,560 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Financial Services acquired a new position in shares of Yum China in the 3rd quarter valued at about $279,000. 85.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum China Price Performance

YUMC stock traded down $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $47.21. The company had a trading volume of 2,767,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,972,201. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $52.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.61 and a 200 day moving average of $37.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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 predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China's payout ratio is 28.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.