Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 918 Shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,943 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) were worth $1,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ZTO. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,395,333 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,829,000 after buying an additional 24,903 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel increased its holdings in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 136,900 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 7,608 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 214,876 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,265,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 75.8% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 619,134 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,104,000 after purchasing an additional 266,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,860,285 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $153,669,000 after purchasing an additional 820,686 shares during the last quarter. 41.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on ZTO shares. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC downgraded ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com upgraded ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $23.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.78.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:ZTO opened at $19.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a PE ratio of 13.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.13. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.93. ZTO Express has a 12 month low of $17.89 and a 12 month high of $27.50.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The transportation company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.73 billion. ZTO Express (Cayman) had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 20.56%. Research analysts forecast that ZTO Express will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a yield of 4.7%. ZTO Express (Cayman)’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

About ZTO Express (Cayman)

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc provides express delivery and other value-added logistics services in the People's Republic of China. It offers freight forwarding services; and delivery services for e-commerce and traditional merchants, and other express service users. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.