Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Shares Gap Up to $60.98

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC – Get Rating) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $60.98, but opened at $62.42. Yum China shares last traded at $62.25, with a volume of 650,702 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on YUMC shares. TheStreet lowered Yum China from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 10th.

Yum China Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $25.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.04.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 6.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 7th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 6th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. This is a positive change from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Yum China’s payout ratio is presently 49.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Joey Wat sold 12,018 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.02, for a total value of $745,356.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 261,905 shares in the company, valued at $16,243,348.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Joey Wat sold 12,018 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.02, for a total value of $745,356.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 261,905 shares in the company, valued at $16,243,348.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Johnson Huang sold 10,707 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total value of $663,834.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 53,268 shares in the company, valued at $3,302,616. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum China

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YUMC. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Yum China by 140.0% during the first quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 250,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,187,000 after purchasing an additional 146,410 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Yum China by 2.5% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 21,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its position in Yum China by 7.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 12,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China during the first quarter worth $418,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Yum China by 5.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 407,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,934,000 after purchasing an additional 20,676 shares in the last quarter. 78.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum China Company Profile

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Yum China Holdings, Inc engages in the operation and management of restaurants and fast food chains. It operates through the following segments: Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Hut, and All Other Segments. The KFC segment operates restaurant chain. The Pizza Hut segment covers the Pizza Hut casual dining and Pizza Hut home service.