Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the two brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.20.

YUMC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Yum China from $77.90 to $79.20 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Yum China in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock.

Yum China Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Yum China stock opened at $57.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.53. Yum China has a 1-year low of $38.58 and a 1-year high of $64.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 31st. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 7.20% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum China will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 25th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum China

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YUMC. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in Yum China by 99,466.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 127,174,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,185,336,000 after buying an additional 127,046,358 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum China by 0.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 25,034,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,586,963,000 after purchasing an additional 106,182 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 20.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,157,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,150,977,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020,941 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 788.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,628,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $787,029,000 after acquiring an additional 14,757,971 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 2.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,838,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,770,000 after buying an additional 282,974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.91% of the company’s stock.

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, which sells electronics, home and kitchen accessories, and other general merchandise, as well as fried rice, steak, and pasta; and offers online food deliver services.