Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.20.

Separately, Macquarie raised Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $33.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.95. Yum China has a 1-year low of $28.50 and a 1-year high of $58.21. The company has a market cap of $13.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.33.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.08. Yum China had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 7.61%. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum China will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.16%.

Insider Transactions at Yum China

In other news, insider Warton Wang purchased 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $34.67 per share, with a total value of $128,279.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 25,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,547.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.72 per share, with a total value of $127,608.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 3,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,608. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Warton Wang acquired 3,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $34.67 per share, with a total value of $128,279.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 25,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,547.41. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $619,671 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum China

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. increased its position in Yum China by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 240,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,420,000 after purchasing an additional 5,719 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Yum China by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 12,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China during the 2nd quarter worth about $904,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its position in Yum China by 181.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 14,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 9,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Yum China by 39.8% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,330,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,024,000 after purchasing an additional 663,742 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

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.