Ameriprise Financial Inc. Increases Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC - Free Report) by 74.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 461,597 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 196,815 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.12% of Yum China worth $22,235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUMC. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter worth $243,901,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 138.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,558,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $412,241,000 after acquiring an additional 4,969,073 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter worth $203,179,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum China during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $199,722,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 399.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,727,549 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,980,589 shares during the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on YUMC shares. Daiwa America upgraded Yum China to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Yum China from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.70.

Insider Activity at Yum China

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

Yum China Stock Performance

Yum China stock traded down $0.37 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.29. The stock had a trading volume of 308,844 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,934,710. The stock has a market cap of $16.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.27. The stock's 50 day moving average is $47.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $53.99.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Yum China had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 13.83%. Yum China's quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 28th. Yum China's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.17%.

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.