Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,590,000 shares, a decrease of 22.8% from the November 30th total of 13,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,350,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. This trade represents a 27.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.
Institutional Trading of Yum China
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in Yum China by 4,176.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company's stock worth $161,576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,505,053 shares in the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Yum China by 350.7% during the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company's stock valued at $189,202,000 after purchasing an additional 3,270,560 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Yum China by 49.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company's stock valued at $356,206,000 after buying an additional 2,609,494 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its stake in Yum China by 56.3% during the second quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company's stock worth $133,203,000 after buying an additional 1,582,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Yum China by 171.7% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,069,134 shares of the company's stock worth $63,812,000 after buying an additional 1,307,574 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company's stock.
Yum China Stock Performance
YUMC traded down $0.69 on Friday, hitting $49.10. 992,344 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,122,186. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $47.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.65 billion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China has a 52 week low of $28.50 and a 52 week high of $52.00.
Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last released 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 analysts' expectations of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. Yum China's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Yum China will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Yum China Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China's payout ratio is 28.32%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts recently weighed in on YUMC shares. StockNews.com raised Yum China from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, December 21st. Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum China has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $49.57.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Yum China
About Yum China
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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