Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Upgraded at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Macquarie raised shares of Yum China from an underperform rating to an outperform rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum China has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $46.18.

Yum China Price Performance

Shares of Yum China stock opened at $51.02 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.34 and a 200-day moving average of $35.28. Yum China has a 52-week low of $28.50 and a 52-week high of $56.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.08. Yum China had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 7.61%. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Yum China will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum China’s payout ratio is presently 32.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum China news, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.72 per share, with a total value of $127,608.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $127,608. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Joey Wat bought 3,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $33.98 per share, with a total value of $129,124.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 272,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,274,637.12. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $32.72 per share, with a total value of $127,608.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 3,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $127,608. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $619,671 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum China

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of YUMC. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its position in Yum China by 38.4% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 12,223,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $486,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,389,987 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox increased its position in Yum China by 23,769.2% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,165,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,313,000 after purchasing an additional 3,152,269 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China during the first quarter valued at $65,645,000. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its position in Yum China by 56.3% during the second quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Yum China by 171.7% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,069,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,812,000 after buying an additional 1,307,574 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.58% 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.