Financial Counselors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO)

Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) by 35.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) were worth $284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ZTO. LPL Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) during the 4th quarter valued at $232,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. raised its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 14,069 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 414.7% in the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 138,369 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,705,000 after buying an additional 111,487 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 64,943 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,395,333 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $46,829,000 after acquiring an additional 24,903 shares during the last quarter. 41.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

ZTO Express (Cayman) Price Performance

ZTO stock opened at $19.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.13. ZTO Express has a 12 month low of $17.89 and a 12 month high of $27.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.91.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The transportation company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.73 billion. ZTO Express (Cayman) had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 15.44%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ZTO Express will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. ZTO Express (Cayman)’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.95%.

ZTO Express (Cayman) 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.