ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) by 80.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 255,373 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,034,760 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ZTO Express (Cayman) were worth $5,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) during the third quarter worth approximately $245,000. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) in the third quarter valued at about $1,032,000. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 68.4% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,260,456 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $199,655,000 after buying an additional 3,353,753 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 8.6% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 687,052 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $16,609,000 after buying an additional 54,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ramirez Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in ZTO Express (Cayman) in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,466,000. 41.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. HSBC dropped their target price on ZTO Express (Cayman) from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from $25.20 to $26.90 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Macquarie cut shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.20 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on ZTO Express (Cayman) from $37.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ZTO Express (Cayman) currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.18.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Price Performance

ZTO stock traded down $1.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $19.75. 1,661,146 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,984,656. ZTO Express has a 52-week low of $15.90 and a 52-week high of $28.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $11.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.01, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of -0.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.52.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last released its quarterly 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. As a group, analysts predict that ZTO Express will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Company 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.