Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 6th

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16.

Yum China has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years. Yum China has a payout ratio of 22.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Yum China to earn $2.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.8%.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of YUMC opened at $48.38 on Friday. Yum China has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $52.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.33. 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’s fifty day moving average is $46.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.22.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted 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 return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Yum China will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. The trade was a 27.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on YUMC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.57.

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.