National Pension Service Cuts Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

National Pension Service cut its holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 10.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 107,720 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,053 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service's holdings in Yum China were worth $4,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of YUMC. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its position in Yum China by 53.7% during the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China in the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Yum China by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Yum China during the first quarter worth $39,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Yum China by 906.5% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 926 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $32.72 per share, with a total value of $127,608.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 3,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $127,608. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Warton Wang bought 3,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $34.67 per share, for a total transaction of $128,279.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 25,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $867,547.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.72 per share, for a total transaction of $127,608.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 3,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at $127,608. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $619,671. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Yum China Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE YUMC traded down $2.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $49.31. 2,433,031 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,261,490. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $18.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.36. 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 released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Yum China's revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Yum China's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.