Lazard Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) by 40.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 730,615 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 490,472 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) were worth $15,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTO. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,278 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) in the 1st quarter worth about $43,000. U S Global Investors Inc. grew its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. now owns 8,815 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,179 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 45,100 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in ZTO Express (Cayman) by 1,333.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,973 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 4,626 shares during the last quarter. 41.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on ZTO shares. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from $25.20 to $26.90 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Macquarie downgraded ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.20 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.18.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Stock Performance

Shares of ZTO stock opened at $18.97 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of -0.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $21.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.49. ZTO Express has a one year low of $15.90 and a one year high of $27.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The transportation company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter. ZTO Express (Cayman) had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 21.57%. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ZTO Express will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

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.