Norges Bank Purchases New Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,263,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,777,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.51% of Yum China as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum China during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum China in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum China during the fourth quarter worth $48,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum China Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $38.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $14.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.25, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.13. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.55 and a 12-month high of $62.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 7.49% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 24th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 32.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Yum China from $66.80 to $51.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.65.

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.