SOL Capital Management CO Sells 4,700 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

SOL Capital Management CO trimmed its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 43.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,010 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,700 shares during the quarter. SOL Capital Management CO’s holdings in Yum China were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUMC. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum China by 49.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609,494 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Yum China by 350.7% in the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,202,000 after buying an additional 3,270,560 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Yum China by 4,176.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,505,053 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Yum China by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,552,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,939,000 after acquiring an additional 11,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its holdings in Yum China by 61.4% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,942,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120,054 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on YUMC. StockNews.com upgraded Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.57.

Yum China Stock Performance

NYSE:YUMC opened at $46.23 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $46.82 and its 200-day moving average is $41.79. The company has a market cap of $17.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.46, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.50 and a 52-week high of $52.00.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Yum China’s payout ratio is 28.32%.

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.