Kentucky Trust Co Buys New Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Summit Trail Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter valued at $616,000. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter valued at $202,000. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after buying an additional 1,959 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 9,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 4,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter valued at $856,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on YUMC. StockNews.com cut Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.57.

Yum China Stock Performance

NYSE:YUMC opened at $48.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.50 and a 52-week high of $52.00. The firm has a market cap of $18.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.33. The business’s fifty day moving average is $46.90 and its 200 day moving average is $42.82.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 13.83%. Research analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. 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 yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. This represents a 27.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.