GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Increases Stock Position in Yum China (NYSE:YUMC)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. raised its holdings in Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 205.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 410,800 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 276,150 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. owned approximately 0.11% of Yum China worth $21,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yum China by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,726 shares of the company's stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,074 shares of the company's stock worth $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 6,180 shares of the company's stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum China by 58.5% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 878 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Yum China by 4.9% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,006 shares of the company's stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Daiwa America raised Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.70.

Yum China Stock Down 0.4%

YUMC stock traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $45.76. 1,115,645 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,883,425. The company has a market cap of $16.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.26. Yum China has a 1-year low of $28.50 and a 1-year high of $53.99. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $44.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.38.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. Yum China's revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Yum China will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 28th. Yum China's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.17%.

About Yum China

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.