Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $307,000 Stock Holdings in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. cut its position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,375 shares of the company’s stock after selling 370 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum China were worth $307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new stake in Yum China in the third quarter worth $2,177,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 21.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,510,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,017,000 after acquiring an additional 441,252 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Yum China by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 56,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,794,000 after acquiring an additional 8,101 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China during the fourth quarter worth $322,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China during the fourth quarter worth $809,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum China Stock Up 5.0 %

Yum China stock opened at $51.53 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.50 and a 1-year high of $52.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.41. 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 (NYSE:YUMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 13.83%. Research analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Insider Activity at Yum China

In other news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total value of $202,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,634,474.25. This trade represents a 7.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total transaction of $188,019.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,728,782.42. This trade represents a 6.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,152 shares of company stock valued at $2,242,176. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.