Handelsbanken Fonder AB Reduces Stock Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 43.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 125,680 shares of the company's stock after selling 98,111 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Yum China were worth $5,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of YUMC. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in shares of Yum China by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 4,847,238 shares of the company's stock worth $270,088,000 after buying an additional 916,418 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,766,787 shares of the company's stock worth $159,825,000 after purchasing an additional 433,411 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 237.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 559,994 shares of the company's stock worth $31,203,000 after purchasing an additional 393,881 shares during the period. Broad Peak Investment Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter. Broad Peak Investment Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,743,123 shares of the company's stock worth $97,127,000 after purchasing an additional 343,500 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,819,136 shares of the company's stock worth $435,682,000 after purchasing an additional 337,033 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on YUMC. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Yum China from $66.80 to $51.30 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $38.00 price target (down previously from $65.00) on shares of Yum China in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $54.65.

Yum China Stock Performance

YUMC stock traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.65. 3,039,976 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,448,412. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.42. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.55 and a 52 week high of $64.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.54 billion, a PE ratio of 19.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 11.63%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This is a positive change from Yum China's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. Yum China's payout ratio is 32.65%.

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.