Brokerages Set ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) Target Price at $22.78

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

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res downgraded ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ZTO Express (Cayman)

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 11.7% in 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 buying an additional 820,686 shares during the period. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $129,364,000 after acquiring an additional 633,604 shares in the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings 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 valued at $46,829,000 after purchasing an additional 24,903 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 1,345,583 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,306,000 after purchasing an additional 359,578 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 831.6% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,168,821 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $22,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,359 shares in the last quarter. 41.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Price Performance

ZTO Express (Cayman) stock opened at $17.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.61. The stock has a market cap of $10.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.03. ZTO Express has a 1-year low of $16.34 and a 1-year 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.02). 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.73 billion. Equities analysts expect that ZTO Express will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. ZTO Express (Cayman)’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

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.