Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 2,609,494 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 49.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,609,494 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Yum China were worth $356,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Yum China by 43.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the first quarter worth about $36,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum China by 906.5% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 926 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 834 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Yum China in the first quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Yum China by 53.7% in the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUMC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised shares of Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Macquarie raised Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $37.40 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Performance

YUMC stock opened at $49.82 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.65. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.50 and a 12-month high of $51.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.09. Yum China had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 7.97%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Yum China’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum China

In other news, insider Jeff Kuai acquired 3,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.72 per share, with a total value of $127,608.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 3,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,608. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Yum China news, insider Jeff Kuai purchased 3,900 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $32.72 per share, with a total value of $127,608.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $127,608. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Warton Wang acquired 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $34.67 per share, with a total value of $128,279.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 25,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,547.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 18,400 shares of company stock worth $619,671. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.