Stock Buyback Plan Initiated by Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) Board

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, December 12th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 5.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on YUMC shares. CLSA reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Yum China in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Yum China in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

Yum China Stock Up 1.9%

NYSE:YUMC opened at $48.53 on Friday. Yum China has a twelve month low of $41.00 and a twelve month high of $53.99. The company has a market cap of $17.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.13.

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76. Yum China had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 14.08%. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Yum China will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Yum China Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Yum China’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.83%.

Insider Activity at Yum China

In other news, insider Duoduo (Howard) Huang sold 4,888 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.10, for a total value of $235,112.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 22,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,082,731. The trade was a 17.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Warton Wang sold 8,187 shares of Yum China stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.28, for a total value of $395,268.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 46,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,261,773.16. This trade represents a 14.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 18,242 shares of company stock valued at $878,397 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.