Brokerages Set ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) PT at $24.53

Shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.78.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. HSBC downgraded ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $153,669,000 after buying an additional 820,686 shares during the last quarter. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. lifted its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. now owns 6,617,077 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $129,364,000 after acquiring an additional 633,604 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,484,318 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $86,307,000 after acquiring an additional 317,450 shares during the last quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. raised its holdings in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 8,172.7% in the third quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. now owns 3,003,008 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $74,385,000 after purchasing an additional 2,966,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position 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 valued at $46,829,000 after purchasing an additional 24,903 shares in the last quarter. 41.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Price Performance

ZTO opened at $20.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.13. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.98. ZTO Express has a 1 year low of $17.89 and a 1 year high of $27.50.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The transportation company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.03). ZTO Express (Cayman) had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 20.56%. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.73 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ZTO Express will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.7%. ZTO Express (Cayman)’s payout ratio is 46.90%.

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.