Financial Counselors Inc. Takes Position in Yum China (NYSE:YUMC)

Financial Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,304 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Yum China by 35.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,102,077 shares of the company's stock worth $734,150,000 after purchasing an additional 3,704,756 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Yum China by 6,304.9% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,526,026 shares of the company's stock worth $600,045,000 after purchasing an additional 11,346,069 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Yum China by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 10,361,804 shares of the company's stock worth $499,127,000 after purchasing an additional 448,188 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Yum China by 138.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,558,050 shares of the company's stock worth $412,241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,969,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum China in the fourth quarter worth about $243,901,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Daiwa America upgraded Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.70.

Yum China Stock Performance

NYSE YUMC traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $47.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,332,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,882,486. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.28. Yum China has a 52 week low of $28.50 and a 52 week high of $53.99. The stock has a market cap of $17.63 billion, a PE ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.28.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The business's revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Yum China's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.17%.

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.