Oaktree Capital Management LP Reduces Stock Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Oaktree Capital Management LP reduced its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 877,830 shares of the company’s stock after selling 99,076 shares during the quarter. Yum China makes up 0.8% of Oaktree Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Oaktree Capital Management LP’s holdings in Yum China were worth $42,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Yum China by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,397,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,841,000 after purchasing an additional 2,531,518 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter worth about $243,901,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Yum China by 117.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,751,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $228,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,570,419 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum China during the 4th quarter worth $199,722,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Yum China by 399.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,727,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,980,589 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

Insider Activity

In other Yum China news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares in the company, valued at $2,634,474.25. The trade was a 7.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Joey Wat sold 37,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.71, for a total transaction of $1,851,796.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 382,657 shares in the company, valued at $19,021,879.47. This represents a 8.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,152 shares of company stock worth $2,242,176. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum China Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $51.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.64. The company has a market cap of $19.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $53.99.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. Equities research analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a boost from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Yum China’s payout ratio is presently 41.20%.

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.