ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday.

ZTO has been the topic of a number of other reports. HSBC downgraded shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.78.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Stock Down 7.3 %

Shares of ZTO opened at $20.17 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $19.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.98. ZTO Express has a fifty-two week low of $17.89 and a fifty-two week high of $27.50. The firm has a market cap of $12.18 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.13.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The transportation company reported $0.44 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.73 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ZTO Express will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 820,686 shares in the last quarter. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. grew its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 10.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 10.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. grew its position in 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 worth $74,385,000 after acquiring an additional 2,966,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 1.1% in 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 in the last quarter. 41.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Company Profile

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.