Van ECK Associates Corp Has $9.61 Million Stock Position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 23.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 226,081 shares of the company’s stock after selling 68,830 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Yum China were worth $9,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in YUMC. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Yum China by 237.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 559,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,203,000 after purchasing an additional 393,881 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,655,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Yum China by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,766,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,825,000 after acquiring an additional 433,411 shares during the period. XY Capital Ltd raised its stake in Yum China by 1,325.8% in the 3rd quarter. XY Capital Ltd now owns 107,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,998,000 after purchasing an additional 100,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Yum China by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 369,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,657,000 after purchasing an additional 54,958 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 target price (down from $65.00) on shares of Yum China in a report on Thursday, January 4th. HSBC lowered their price objective on Yum China from $66.80 to $51.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum China currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.65.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:YUMC opened at $37.35 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.55 and a 1 year high of $64.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.46.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 11.65% and a net margin of 7.49%. Yum China’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 28th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.16%.

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.