Insider Selling: Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) CTO Sells 4,000 Shares of Stock

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,634,474.25. The trade was a 7.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of YUMC opened at $51.53 on Friday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.50 and a 52 week high of $52.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $19.38 billion, a PE ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $46.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.33.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.20%.

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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum China

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Yum China by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,111,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 6,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in Yum China by 1.3% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.