AMF Tjanstepension AB Reduces Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

AMF Tjanstepension AB trimmed its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 95.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,304 shares of the company’s stock after selling 206,738 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Yum China were worth $287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUMC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at about $265,777,000. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its stake in Yum China by 38.4% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 12,223,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $486,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,389,987 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in Yum China by 23,769.2% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,165,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,313,000 after acquiring an additional 3,152,269 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum China during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $65,645,000. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 74.2% during the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 2,811,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,135,000 after buying an additional 1,197,303 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Macquarie upgraded shares of Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research note on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.20.

Yum China Price Performance

Yum China stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $33.88. 5,848,571 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,155,532. The company’s fifty day moving average is $32.08 and its 200-day moving average is $36.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $13.20 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.33. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.50 and a 52 week high of $58.21.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 7.49% and a return on equity of 11.90%. Yum China’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum China’s payout ratio is 32.16%.

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.