Wellington Management Group LLP Boosts Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 95.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,580,430 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,238,720 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 1.22% of Yum China worth $220,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of YUMC. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,397,321 shares of the company's stock worth $500,841,000 after purchasing an additional 2,531,518 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the 4th quarter worth $243,901,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Yum China by 117.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,751,662 shares of the company's stock valued at $228,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,570,419 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at about $203,179,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter worth about $199,722,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum China Price Performance

YUMC stock traded down $2.47 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $45.46. The company had a trading volume of 5,701,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,859,564. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $49.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.40. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $53.99. The company has a market capitalization of $17.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G 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.

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Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last posted its 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Yum China's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Yum China's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum China news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 17th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 6.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total value of $1,851,796.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 382,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,021,879.47. This trade represents a 8.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have 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

Separately, StockNews.com cut Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th.

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.