Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 202,105 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 32.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 820,265 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 202,105 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Yum China were worth $39,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in Yum China in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum China in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum China by 58.5% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 878 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,634,474.25. The trade was a 7.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total value of $188,019.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 56,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,728,782.42. The trade was a 6.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,152 shares of company stock worth $2,242,176 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

Yum China Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of NYSE YUMC opened at $45.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.32. 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 $53.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.40.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.20%.

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.