Natixis Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,943 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) were worth $1,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hhlr Advisors LTD. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,966,708 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,350,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 11.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 820,686 shares during the period. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. grew its position 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 worth $129,364,000 after acquiring an additional 633,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in ZTO Express (Cayman) in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $12,407,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ZTO shares. StockNews.com raised ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $23.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC cut ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.78.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) stock opened at $19.84 on Wednesday. ZTO Express has a 12-month low of $17.89 and a 12-month high of $27.50. The company has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.68, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.93.

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 the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.73 billion. Analysts predict that ZTO Express will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 presently 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.