ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $18.16, but opened at $18.81. ZTO Express (Cayman) shares last traded at $18.69, with a volume of 694,009 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Hsbc Global Res raised ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com raised ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. HSBC raised ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ZTO Express (Cayman) presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.28.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Trading Up 2.9%

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.47.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The transportation company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.73 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that ZTO Express will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a yield of 4.7%. ZTO Express (Cayman)’s payout ratio is presently 45.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ZTO Express (Cayman)

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ZTO. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 100.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,423 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 2,398,757 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $22,850,000 after buying an additional 1,043,359 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 820,686 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) during the 1st quarter valued at about $13,950,000. Finally, XY Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 162.4% in the 1st quarter. XY Capital Ltd now owns 1,041,263 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $20,659,000 after acquiring an additional 644,390 shares in the last quarter. 41.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.