Geode Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Geode Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 26.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,266,614 shares of the company’s stock after selling 830,274 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Yum China were worth $101,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUMC. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Yum China by 21.5% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 20,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $640,000 after acquiring an additional 3,672 shares during the period. JB Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum China in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,946,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum China in the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,000. Pictet North America Advisors SA lifted its stake in shares of Yum China by 23.0% in the second quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 374,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,512,000 after purchasing an additional 69,942 shares during the period. Finally, Wesleyan Assurance Society boosted its holdings in Yum China by 20.1% during the second quarter. Wesleyan Assurance Society now owns 179,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,536,000 after buying an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total transaction of $302,716.19. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $789,948.27. This represents a 27.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum China Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of YUMC opened at $48.71 on Thursday. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.50 and a 1-year high of $52.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.79. The stock has a market cap of $18.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.36.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.32%.

Yum China 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.