ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.37 Per Share

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO – Get Rating) announced a — dividend on Friday, March 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 6th will be given a dividend of 0.37 per share by the transportation company on Friday, April 28th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 5th. This is an increase from ZTO Express (Cayman)’s previous — dividend of $0.25.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.45. 4,313,216 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,756,458. ZTO Express has a 12-month low of $16.27 and a 12-month high of $29.79. The stock has a market cap of $17.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $27.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.02.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 15th. The transportation company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.02. ZTO Express (Cayman) had a net margin of 18.33% and a return on equity of 13.02%. The firm had revenue of $9.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. ZTO Express (Cayman)’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that ZTO Express will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZTO has been the subject of a number of research reports. TheStreet raised shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 29th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from $40.30 to $32.80 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ZTO Express (Cayman) has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ZTO. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 63.9% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,599,212 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $139,980,000 after acquiring an additional 2,182,319 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 50.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,783,400 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $119,586,000 after buying an additional 1,612,528 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 1,421.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,118,062 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,951,000 after buying an additional 1,044,595 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 5,514.0% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 791,577 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $19,790,000 after buying an additional 777,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 52.0% during the first quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,890,349 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $47,259,000 after buying an additional 646,490 shares in the last quarter. 40.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ZTO Express (Cayman)

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ZTO Express (Cayman), Inc provides comprehensive logistics services. It offers express delivery and value-added logistics services through a nationwide network partner. The firm also provides digital and privacy waybill and cloud printing. The company was founded by Mei Song Lai on May 8, 2002 and is headquartered in Shanghai, China.