Merit Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUMC. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Yum China by 43.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Yum China by 906.5% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Yum China by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 1,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Yum China during the third quarter worth about $103,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum China in the third quarter valued at about $110,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.57.

Yum China Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $46.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.28. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $52.00.

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

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 28.32%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum China news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,948.27. This represents a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.