Lbp Am Sa Makes New $2.36 Million Investment in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Lbp Am Sa bought a new position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 49,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,360,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,531,518 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 399.0% during 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. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 4,176.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,505,053 shares during the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 61.4% during the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,942,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,510,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,017,000 after purchasing an additional 441,252 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of YUMC opened at $51.53 on Friday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.50 and a 12 month high of $52.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $46.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.33. 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 firm has a market cap of $19.38 billion, a PE ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35.

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

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.20%.

Insider Activity at Yum China

In other Yum China news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 7.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total value of $188,019.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 56,602 shares in the company, valued at $2,728,782.42. This represents a 6.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,152 shares of company stock valued at $2,242,176 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.