Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Shares Gap Down to $40.04

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $40.04, but opened at $37.44. Yum China shares last traded at $37.11, with a volume of 1,772,555 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on YUMC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $38.00 target price (down from $65.00) on shares of Yum China in a report on Thursday, January 4th. HSBC reduced their target price on Yum China from $66.80 to $51.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.65.

Yum China Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.62. The company has a market capitalization of $14.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.45.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 7.53%. Yum China’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a $0.16 dividend. This is a positive change from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Yum China by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 12,374,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,530,000 after acquiring an additional 295,494 shares during the period. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its stake in shares of Yum China by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 8,833,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,825,000 after acquiring an additional 208,264 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Yum China by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,819,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,682,000 after acquiring an additional 337,033 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Yum China by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,584,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,139,000 after acquiring an additional 582,792 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum China during the 4th quarter worth $265,777,000. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

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.