Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.57.

Yum China Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Yum China stock opened at $48.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.16. The stock has a market cap of $18.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Yum China’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Yum China will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.32%.

Insider Transactions at Yum China

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $789,948.27. The trade was a 27.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YUMC. Tyro Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum China in the third quarter worth about $10,086,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum China by 4.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,804,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,023,000 after buying an additional 79,048 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp acquired a new position in Yum China in the third quarter worth approximately $944,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Yum China in the third quarter valued at $229,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum China in the third quarter valued at $868,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Yum China Company 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.