Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Receives $48.70 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) have been assigned an average rating of “Strong Buy” from the four analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $48.70.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Daiwa America raised Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 52,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,634,474.25. This trade represents a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Yum China by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 16,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $785,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum China by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Yum China by 692.7% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 436,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,022,000 after purchasing an additional 381,367 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Yum China by 145.6% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 16,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in Yum China by 1,374.5% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 2,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 2,749 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $42.97 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.91. Yum China has a one year low of $28.50 and a one year high of $53.99. The stock has a market cap of $16.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.01). Yum China had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 13.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum China will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.17%.

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.