Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on YUMC. Citigroup raised Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum China presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Yum China stock opened at $49.57 on Friday. Yum China has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $52.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $46.89 and a 200 day moving average of $38.55. The firm has a market cap of $18.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.36.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The business’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum China will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 28.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,948.27. The trade was a 27.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum China

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in Yum China by 53.7% in the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Yum China by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Yum China by 906.5% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Yum China by 140.3% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the period. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum China in the second quarter worth about $52,000. 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.