Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Shares Sold by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG cut its holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 128,489 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,536 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Yum China were worth $6,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new position in Yum China in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,177,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 56,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,794,000 after acquiring an additional 8,101 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at about $322,000. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum China during the fourth quarter worth about $809,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Yum China during the fourth quarter worth about $31,836,000. 85.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum China news, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total transaction of $1,851,796.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 382,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,021,879.47. The trade was a 8.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total transaction of $188,019.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,602 shares in the company, valued at $2,728,782.42. This trade represents a 6.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,152 shares of company stock valued at $2,242,176. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Yum China Stock Performance

NYSE:YUMC opened at $52.12 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $19.61 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $53.99.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. Analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.20%.

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.