Mackenzie Financial Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 612,497 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,757 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned approximately 0.15% of Yum China worth $25,988,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUMC. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its holdings 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. increased its holdings in Yum China by 2.5% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 21,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $907,000 after buying an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its holdings in Yum China by 7.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 12,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum China in the first quarter valued at about $418,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Yum China by 5.3% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 407,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,934,000 after buying an additional 20,676 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on YUMC. HSBC dropped their target price on shares of Yum China from $66.80 to $51.30 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $38.00 target price (down from $65.00) on shares of Yum China in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.65.

Yum China Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of YUMC opened at $36.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.58. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.55 and a 1-year high of $64.50. The stock has a market cap of $14.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.45.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.12. Yum China had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 11.63%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a $0.16 dividend. This is a boost from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. Yum China’s payout ratio is presently 32.65%.

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.