Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Buys 2,570,419 Shares of Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC) by 117.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,751,662 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,570,419 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 1.25% of Yum China worth $228,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,609,494 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Yum China by 8.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 975,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,523,000 after buying an additional 76,406 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Yum China by 10.0% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 60,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,719,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum China in the third quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum China by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 6,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Yum China from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Leila Zhang sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $202,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 52,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,634,474.25. This represents a 7.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeff Kuai sold 3,900 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.21, for a total transaction of $188,019.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 56,602 shares in the company, valued at $2,728,782.42. This trade represents a 6.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,152 shares of company stock valued at $2,242,176 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum China Stock Performance

YUMC opened at $51.89 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $19.52 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.64. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $53.99.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.01). Yum China had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 13.83%. Research analysts expect that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a boost from Yum China’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Yum China’s payout ratio is 41.20%.

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.