Sarasin & Partners LLP Takes $2.86 Million Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 55,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,863,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Yum China by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in Yum China by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,074 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 6,180 shares of the company's stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 58.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 878 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. Finally, Callan Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Callan Capital LLC now owns 8,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum China news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total value of $202,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,634,474.25. This represents a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Yum China Stock Performance

NYSE YUMC remained flat at $42.87 during trading hours on Thursday. The company had a trading volume of 779,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,909,874. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $45.00 and a 200-day moving average of $46.95. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.50 and a fifty-two week high of $53.99. The stock has a market cap of $16.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.27. 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 (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Yum China's payout ratio is currently 40.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

YUMC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Daiwa America raised Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen cut Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.70.

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.