ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) Receives $22.78 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.78.

ZTO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC cut shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com raised ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th.

Institutional Trading of ZTO Express (Cayman)

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 7,860,285 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $153,669,000 after purchasing an additional 820,686 shares during the last quarter. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. increased its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. now owns 6,617,077 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $129,364,000 after acquiring an additional 633,604 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,395,333 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $46,829,000 after acquiring an additional 24,903 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 1,345,583 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $26,306,000 after purchasing an additional 359,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 831.6% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,168,821 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $22,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.65% of the company’s stock.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of ZTO opened at $18.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.59, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.03. ZTO Express has a fifty-two week low of $16.34 and a fifty-two week high of $27.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.58.

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

ZTO Express (Cayman) Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. 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.