Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.09 EPS

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) released its earnings results on Monday. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. Yum China’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS.

Yum China Trading Up 3.1 %

Yum China stock traded up $1.47 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $49.82. The company had a trading volume of 3,999,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,257,166. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.56. The firm has a market cap of $19.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $51.68.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Macquarie raised Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum China currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.68.

Insider Activity

In other Yum China news, insider Warton Wang bought 3,700 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $34.67 per share, with a total value of $128,279.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 25,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,547.41. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Yum China news, insider Warton Wang bought 3,700 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $34.67 per share, with a total value of $128,279.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 25,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,547.41. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeff Kuai bought 3,900 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,608. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $619,671. Company insiders own 0.30% 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.