HighTower Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 163,657 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,107 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Yum China were worth $7,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China in the third quarter valued at $2,177,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 56,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,794,000 after purchasing an additional 8,101 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at $322,000. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at $809,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 8.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 975,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,523,000 after purchasing an additional 76,406 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other Yum China news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total transaction of $188,019.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 52,075 shares in the company, valued at $2,634,474.25. This trade represents a 7.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,152 shares of company stock worth $2,242,176 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Yum China Trading Up 4.0 %

NYSE YUMC opened at $53.36 on Tuesday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.50 and a 12 month high of $53.69. 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 market capitalization of $20.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $47.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.55.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 13.83%. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is 41.20%.

Yum China 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.