ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

Shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock had previously closed at $21.30, but opened at $21.90. ZTO Express (Cayman) shares last traded at $21.94, with a volume of 468,590 shares.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.7%. ZTO Express (Cayman)’s payout ratio is 46.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday. HSBC cut ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.78.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Trading Down 7.3 %

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.98. The stock has a market cap of $12.18 billion, a P/E 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The transportation company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.73 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that ZTO Express will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ZTO Express (Cayman)

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 18,913 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 64,943 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 14,069 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. increased its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 10,726 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.65% of the company’s stock.

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.