Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Shares Acquired by Wesleyan Assurance Society

Wesleyan Assurance Society grew its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 179,492 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,000 shares during the quarter. Wesleyan Assurance Society’s holdings in Yum China were worth $5,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pictet North America Advisors SA lifted its position in Yum China by 23.0% during the 2nd quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 374,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,512,000 after acquiring an additional 69,942 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China during the second quarter worth about $52,000. JB Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,946,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the second quarter valued at approximately $107,000. Finally, Lind Value II ApS purchased a new position in Yum China during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,246,000. 85.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Leila Zhang purchased 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $33.36 per share, for a total transaction of $133,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 41,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,379,069.04. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Yum China news, CTO Leila Zhang acquired 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $33.36 per share, with a total value of $133,440.00. Following the purchase, the chief technology officer now owns 41,339 shares in the company, valued at $1,379,069.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jeff Kuai bought 3,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $32.72 per share, for a total transaction of $127,608.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 3,900 shares in the company, valued at $127,608. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 18,400 shares of company stock worth $619,671. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Macquarie raised shares of Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.20.

Yum China Stock Performance

YUMC traded down $0.40 on Friday, reaching $33.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,607,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,006,837. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $31.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $58.21. The company has a market cap of $12.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.33.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 7.61%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.