Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Raised to “Overweight” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) was upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $60.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $35.50. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.45% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on YUMC. Macquarie upgraded Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $49.82 on Tuesday. Yum China has a 52 week low of $28.50 and a 52 week high of $51.68. The company has a market cap of $19.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.65.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 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 business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum China will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In related news, insider Warton Wang purchased 3,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $34.67 per share, with a total value of $128,279.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 25,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $867,547.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.72 per share, with a total value of $127,608.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 3,900 shares in the company, valued at $127,608. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Warton Wang bought 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $34.67 per share, with a total value of $128,279.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 25,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,547.41. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $619,671. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of YUMC. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Yum China in the third quarter worth about $2,251,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Yum China by 66.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 19,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 7,580 shares in the last quarter. Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Yum China in the third quarter valued at $1,650,000. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parthenon LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum China in the 3rd quarter worth about $243,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.