Fifth Third Bancorp Boosts Position in Yum China (NYSE:YUMC)

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 78.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,524 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 6,806 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Yum China were worth $808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AXA S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 31,286 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,507,000 after buying an additional 8,016 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 16.6% in the fourth 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. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter worth about $31,836,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Yum China by 4,967.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 98,914 shares of the company's stock worth $5,149,000 after purchasing an additional 96,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Yum China during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $746,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YUMC. Daiwa America raised Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.70.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of Yum China stock traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.98. The company had a trading volume of 193,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,908,320. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.75. The stock has a market cap of $16.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Yum China has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $53.99.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 14.08% and a net margin of 8.09%. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Yum China will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. Yum China's payout ratio is currently 40.17%.

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.