Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.57.

Yum China Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of YUMC opened at $45.06 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.04. Yum China has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $52.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $17.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.33.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum China will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 6,377 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.47, for a total value of $302,716.19. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,641 shares in the company, valued at $789,948.27. The trade was a 27.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum China

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Yum China by 4,176.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,588,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,505,053 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Yum China by 350.7% in the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,202,000 after buying an additional 3,270,560 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 2,609,494 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its holdings in Yum China by 61.4% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,942,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,492,000 after buying an additional 1,120,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hhlr Advisors LTD. bought a new position in shares of Yum China in the third quarter worth about $29,977,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum China Company 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.