ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.28.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ZTO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. HSBC upgraded ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ZTO Express (Cayman)

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ZTO. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 106.4% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,288 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 70.8% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,132 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 119.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,061 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 2,758 shares in the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 47.0% in the 1st quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 10,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 3,229 shares during the period. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 10,282 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 1,326 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.65% of the company’s stock.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ZTO opened at $18.74 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.70. The company has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.14. ZTO Express has a 1 year low of $16.34 and a 1 year high of $27.50.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The transportation company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.02). ZTO Express (Cayman) had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.73 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 was paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a yield of 4.7%. ZTO Express (Cayman)’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.