Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Stock Position Lifted by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,361,804 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 448,188 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 2.73% of Yum China worth $499,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in Yum China in the 4th quarter worth $1,123,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its position in Yum China by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 14,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 4,040 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its position in Yum China by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 5,563 shares of the company's stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Yum China by 108.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,218,486 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,694,000 after buying an additional 633,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new position in Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,392,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Daiwa America raised shares of Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $48.70.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUMC traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $44.61. 3,054,591 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,944,984. The stock has a market cap of $16.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a PEG 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 Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.50 and a twelve month high of $53.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $47.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.37.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. Yum China's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 52,075 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,634,474.25. This represents a 7.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total value of $1,851,796.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 382,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,021,879.47. This represents a 8.87% 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 corporate insiders.

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.