LMR Partners LLP Sells 50,349 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

LMR Partners LLP trimmed its holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 70.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,125 shares of the company's stock after selling 50,349 shares during the quarter. LMR Partners LLP's holdings in Yum China were worth $1,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Yum China by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 56,896 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,794,000 after purchasing an additional 8,101 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at $31,836,000. AXA S.A. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 8,016 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter worth $809,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum China in the 4th quarter worth $322,000. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Yum China news, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total value of $1,851,796.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 382,657 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,021,879.47. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total value of $202,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 52,075 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,634,474.25. This represents a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUMC has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Daiwa America raised shares of Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum China has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $48.70.

Yum China Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Yum China stock traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $44.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 582,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,935,356. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.50 and a 1-year high of $53.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.27. 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 50-day simple moving average of $47.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.37.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during 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 was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 28th. Yum China's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.