Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) Increases Dividend to $0.24 Per Share

Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16.

Yum China has increased its dividend by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years. Yum China has a dividend payout ratio of 33.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Yum China to earn $2.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.1%.

Yum China Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of YUMC opened at $49.02 on Tuesday. Yum China has a 52-week low of $28.50 and a 52-week high of $52.00. The company has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a PE ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $46.69 and a 200 day moving average of $44.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.29 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 the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a return on equity of 13.83% and a net margin of 8.06%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yum China will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Yum China news, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 17th. The stock was 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 directly owns 56,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,728,782.42. This trade represents a 6.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on YUMC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com lowered Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.57.

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.