Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management Keeps Portfolio Largely Unchanged; Made Major Moves in These Stocks

Yum China Holdings Inc (NYSE:YUMC)

– Shares Held By Southeastern Asset Management (as of December 31): 9.04 Million

– Value of The Holding (as of December 31): $236.25 million

Southeastern Asset Management reported a stake in newly-listed Yum China Holdings Inc (NYSE:YUMC) during the fourth quarter. Since its listing in October 17, Yum China Holdings Inc (NYSE:YUMC)’s stock has appreciated by a meager 3.59%. On November 17, the company revealed that it’s in talks to buy Chinese food delivery startup Daojia.com for up to $200 million. Earlier this year, Yum China Holdings announced that its planning to re-launch Taco Bell in China after a decade as part of a plan to open 1,000 international outlets of the fast food chain by 2020. For fiscal 2016 fourth quarter, which was its first quarter as a separate publicly traded entity, Yum China reported EPS of $0.17 on revenue of $1.98 billion, versus analysts’ expectations of EPS of $0.12 on revenue of $1.88 billion.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc (NASDAQ:TROW)

– Shares Held By Southeastern Asset Management (as of December 31): 3.53 Million

– Value of The Holding (as of December 31): $265.44 million

T. Rowe Price Group Inc (NASDAQ:TROW) was also a new entrant in Southeastern Asset Management’s equity portfolio during the fourth quarter. The financial services holding company, like most other financial firms, saw its stock surge after billionaire Donald Trump won the presidential elections in November. However, the stock has given up most of those gains in the current quarter and is trading down 5.53% year-to-date at present. On February 16, the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.57 per share, which was 5.6% higher than its previous dividend and translates into an attractive forward yield of 3.21% based on its current stock price. At the beginning of this month, analysts at Credit Suisse Group reiterated their ‘Hold’ rating on T. Rowe Price Group Inc (NASDAQ:TROW)’s stock while setting a price target of $62 on it, suggesting a potential downside of 14.67%.