Waverton Investment Management Ltd Has $28.76 Million Stock Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 19.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 932,527 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 154,485 shares during the quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd owned approximately 0.24% of Yum China worth $28,764,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YUMC. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Yum China by 140.3% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,490 shares of the company's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 870 shares in the last quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 12.1% during the second quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. now owns 3,338 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Yum China by 1.7% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 351,038 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,826,000 after acquiring an additional 5,906 shares during the last quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Yum China in the second quarter valued at about $225,000. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Yum China during the 2nd quarter worth about $265,000. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Warton Wang purchased 3,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $34.67 per share, with a total value of $128,279.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 25,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $867,547.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Yum China news, insider Warton Wang acquired 3,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $34.67 per share, for a total transaction of $128,279.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 25,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $867,547.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert Blaine Aiken, Jr. acquired 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $33.74 per share, with a total value of $101,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 12,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at $407,849.12. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $619,671 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Macquarie upgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.20.

Yum China Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of YUMC traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $33.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,712,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,058,597. The firm has a market cap of $12.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.94. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.50 and a twelve month high of $58.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.08. Yum China had a net margin of 7.61% and a return on equity of 12.41%. The company had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. Yum China's dividend payout ratio is 32.16%.

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.