Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. Reduces Stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 109,377 shares of the company’s stock after selling 78,633 shares during the quarter. Yum China makes up approximately 2.5% of Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Yum China were worth $4,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUMC. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd boosted its holdings in Yum China by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 12,223,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $486,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,389,987 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Yum China by 350.7% in the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,203,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,202,000 after purchasing an additional 3,270,560 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Yum China by 49.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,865,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,206,000 after purchasing an additional 2,609,494 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Yum China in the 1st quarter valued at about $65,645,000. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its position in Yum China by 56.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 4,394,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,859 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Yum China from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup upgraded Yum China to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Macquarie upgraded Yum China from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $37.40 in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Yum China from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $35.50 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.68.

Yum China Stock Performance

Shares of YUMC stock opened at $47.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.15. The stock has a market cap of $18.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.36. Yum China Holdings, Inc. 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 quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Yum China’s payout ratio is currently 28.32%.

Yum China 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.