Brokerages Set Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Price Target at $51.68

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Buy" from the five analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.68.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Yum China from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th.

Yum China Stock Up 5.1 %

Shares of Yum China stock traded up $2.46 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $50.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,003,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,173,272. Yum China has a 1-year low of $28.50 and a 1-year high of $52.00. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $19.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.09.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum China will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 1.26%. Yum China's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,948.27. This represents a 27.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum China

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Yum China by 4,176.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company's stock valued at $161,576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,505,053 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 350.7% during the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company's stock worth $189,202,000 after purchasing an additional 3,270,560 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Yum China by 49.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company's stock valued at $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609,494 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its stake in Yum China by 56.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,859 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Yum China by 171.7% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,069,134 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,812,000 after buying an additional 1,307,574 shares during the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.