ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO – Get Rating) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The transportation company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.02, Yahoo Finance reports. ZTO Express (Cayman) had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 18.33%. The firm had revenue of $9.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Stock Performance

NYSE ZTO traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $28.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,580,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,701,492. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.02. ZTO Express has a fifty-two week low of $16.27 and a fifty-two week high of $29.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $17.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.02.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ZTO Express (Cayman)

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HAP Trading LLC acquired a new stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) during the first quarter worth $413,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) in the fourth quarter valued at about $310,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 4.7% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,198 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $293,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in ZTO Express (Cayman) in the third quarter worth about $253,000. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Creative Planning now owns 9,009 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. 40.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ZTO. Citigroup lowered their target price 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. TheStreet raised ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 29th. HSBC boosted their price objective on ZTO Express (Cayman) from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on ZTO Express (Cayman) in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ZTO Express (Cayman) has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.60.

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.