Raymond James & Associates Acquires 372,317 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 45.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,186,953 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 372,317 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Yum China were worth $47,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in YUMC. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 3.9% during the first quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 56,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,080 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Yum China by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,820,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,019,000 after buying an additional 53,744 shares during the period. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China during the first quarter worth $360,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 8.4% in the first quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 216,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,599,000 after acquiring an additional 16,738 shares during the period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Yum China in the first quarter valued at about $2,188,000. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Yum China from $66.80 to $51.30 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum China currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.65.

Yum China Price Performance

YUMC traded up $1.05 on Friday, reaching $38.41. The stock had a trading volume of 2,641,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,971,875. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.64 and a 200-day moving average of $41.25. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.55 and a fifty-two week high of $64.50. The company has a market capitalization of $15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.06. Yum China had a return on equity of 11.65% and a net margin of 7.49%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.16%.

Yum China Company 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.