Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires New Shares in Yum China (NYSE:YUMC)

Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AXA S.A. grew its stake in Yum China by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 31,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after buying an additional 8,016 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Yum China by 4,967.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 98,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,149,000 after buying an additional 96,962 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Yum China in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,836,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Yum China in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $746,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Yum China by 40.4% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 31,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after purchasing an additional 9,155 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUMC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum China currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.70.

Yum China Stock Up 0.1%

YUMC opened at $42.79 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Yum China has a one year low of $28.50 and a one year high of $53.99.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 14.08% and a net margin of 8.09%. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Yum China will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 28th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.17%.

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.