Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. Sells 124,455 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. reduced its holdings in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 43.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 158,938 shares of the company’s stock after selling 124,455 shares during the period. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s holdings in Yum China were worth $7,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,389,987 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Yum China by 350.7% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,202,000 after acquiring an additional 3,270,560 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 49.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609,494 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum China in the first quarter worth about $65,645,000. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its holdings in Yum China by 56.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,203,000 after buying an additional 1,582,859 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on YUMC shares. Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Macquarie raised shares of Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of Yum China stock traded down $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $47.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,767,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,972,201. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.50 and a 52 week high of $52.00. The company has a market capitalization of $17.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its 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 net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum China Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. 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.