Leila Zhang Sells 4,000 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Stock

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares in the company, valued at $2,634,474.25. This trade represents a 7.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Yum China Stock Performance

YUMC stock opened at $51.53 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.33. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $52.00. The firm has a market cap of $19.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

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

Yum China Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 41.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum China

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Yum China by 43.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Yum China by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Yum China by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,111,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Yum China by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 6,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Yum China by 1.3% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.