Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Increases Stock Holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,458 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 749 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Yum China were worth $793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Choreo LLC raised its position in Yum China by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Caas Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Yum China in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,704,000. abrdn plc boosted its position in Yum China by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 417,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,187,000 after acquiring an additional 46,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JB Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 67,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,611 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YUMC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $49.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. This trade represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Yum China Price Performance

NYSE YUMC opened at $47.43 on Wednesday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.50 and a 52 week high of $52.00. 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 has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.66.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. Analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.47%.

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.