Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Shares Gap Down to $40.04

Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $40.04, but opened at $37.44. Yum China shares last traded at $37.11, with a volume of 1,772,555 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on YUMC shares. HSBC dropped their price objective on Yum China from $66.80 to $51.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $38.00 price target (down previously from $65.00) on shares of Yum China in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.65.

Yum China Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.62. The company has a market capitalization of $14.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.45.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.06. Yum China had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 7.53%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. Yum China’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. This is a positive change from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 32.65%.

Institutional Trading of Yum China

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Yum China by 237.1% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 559,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,203,000 after buying an additional 393,881 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at $1,655,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Yum China by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,766,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,825,000 after purchasing an additional 433,411 shares during the period. XY Capital Ltd raised its position in Yum China by 1,325.8% in the third quarter. XY Capital Ltd now owns 107,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,998,000 after purchasing an additional 100,100 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Yum China by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 369,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,657,000 after purchasing an additional 54,958 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.