Stock Repurchase Program Initiated by Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Board of Directors

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, December 12th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 5.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum China Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of Yum China stock traded up $0.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $48.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,046,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,509,794. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company’s 50-day moving average is $45.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.11. The company has a market cap of $17.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.14. Yum China has a twelve month low of $41.00 and a twelve month high of $53.99.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76. Yum China had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 14.08%. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. Yum China’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Yum China will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 39.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUMC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Yum China in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. CLSA reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Yum China in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Insider Activity at Yum China

In related news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 5,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $248,016.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 56,602 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,896. This represents a 8.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Warton Wang sold 8,187 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.28, for a total transaction of $395,268.36. Following the sale, the insider owned 46,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,261,773.16. This trade represents a 14.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 18,242 shares of company stock worth $878,397 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.