Bank of New York Mellon Corp Boosts Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 399.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,727,549 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,980,589 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Yum China were worth $179,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YUMC. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in Yum China by 350.7% in the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,202,000 after purchasing an additional 3,270,560 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum China in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,177,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 100.2% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 35,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,610,000 after buying an additional 17,898 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Yum China by 21.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,510,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,017,000 after acquiring an additional 441,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Yum China by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 56,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,794,000 after acquiring an additional 8,101 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum China presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.57.

Yum China Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $50.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.07 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $46.65 and a 200-day moving average of $43.98. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.50 and a 52-week high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly 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 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s payout ratio is 41.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum China news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total transaction of $188,019.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 56,602 shares in the company, valued at $2,728,782.42. The trade was a 6.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.