Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is a boost from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16.

Yum China has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years. Yum China has a payout ratio of 22.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Yum China to earn $2.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.1%.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of YUMC traded down $1.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $48.38. The stock had a trading volume of 4,241,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,282,455. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.22. The firm has a market cap of $18.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Yum China has a one year low of $28.50 and a one year high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum China will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on YUMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the sale, the insider now owns 16,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.