Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 5,274 Shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) by 8.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,554 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,274 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Yum China were worth $3,361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum China by 58.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Yum China during the fourth quarter worth $231,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Yum China by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 74,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum China by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 19,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $935,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum China by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Daiwa America upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.70.

Yum China Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Yum China stock opened at $46.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.27. Yum China has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $53.99. The company has a market capitalization of $17.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.28.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 14.08% and a net margin of 8.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Yum China will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 28th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio 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.