Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Lowers Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 627,500 shares of the company's stock after selling 33,900 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.17% of Yum China worth $28,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Yum China by 43.9% during 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 during the period. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Yum China by 1.2% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 25,639 shares of the company's stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 1.3% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,692 shares of the company's stock worth $1,067,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 2.6% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,659 shares of the company's stock worth $570,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. The trade was a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUMC traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $48.53. 2,727,998 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,170,861. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $52.00. The company's 50-day moving average is $46.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.09. The company has a market capitalization of $18.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.36.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 EPS 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 given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Yum China's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum China from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Yum China from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.