Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Reduces Stock Holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lowered its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 86,179 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,820 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina's holdings in Yum China were worth $4,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Scotia Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $317,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in Yum China by 138.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,558,050 shares of the company's stock worth $412,241,000 after buying an additional 4,969,073 shares during the last quarter. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD bought a new stake in Yum China during the fourth quarter valued at $1,522,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Yum China by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Yum China by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 820,265 shares of the company's stock worth $39,501,000 after acquiring an additional 202,105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total value of $202,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,634,474.25. This represents a 7.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $2,728,782.42. This trade represents a 6.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,152 shares of company stock worth $2,242,176. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUMC traded down $2.62 on Friday, hitting $41.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,305,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,960,440. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.53. The company has a market capitalization of $15.50 billion, a PE ratio of 17.74, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.32. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $53.99.

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

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Yum China's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Yum China's payout ratio is currently 41.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUMC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Daiwa America raised shares of Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $48.70.

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.