Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Holdings Raised by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 32.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 820,265 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 202,105 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.22% of Yum China worth $39,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of YUMC. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum China by 49.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company's stock worth $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609,494 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new position in Yum China in the third quarter worth $2,177,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China in the 3rd quarter valued at about $239,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $452,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Yum China during the third quarter worth $533,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum China news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total transaction of $188,019.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,728,782.42. This represents a 6.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 52,075 shares in the company, valued at $2,634,474.25. This represents a 7.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 45,152 shares of company stock worth $2,242,176. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on YUMC. StockNews.com lowered Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Daiwa America raised shares of Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $48.70.

Yum China Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of YUMC stock traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,686,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,919,398. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $53.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $49.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.60.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 13.83%. On average, research analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Yum China's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. Yum China's payout ratio is currently 41.20%.

Yum China Company 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.