D.A. Davidson & CO. Reduces Stock Holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

D.A. Davidson & CO. reduced its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,084 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,608 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Yum China were worth $1,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Yum China by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,397,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,841,000 after purchasing an additional 2,531,518 shares during the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Yum China by 350.7% during the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,202,000 after buying an additional 3,270,560 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Yum China by 4,176.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,505,053 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its holdings in Yum China by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,942,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,492,000 after buying an additional 1,120,054 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Yum China by 21.3% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,510,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,017,000 after acquiring an additional 441,252 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on YUMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total value of $188,019.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 56,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,728,782.42. This represents a 6.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum China Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $46.62 on Monday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.50 and a twelve month high of $52.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $17.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.33.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 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%. Research analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.47%.

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.