ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) Declares $0.35 Semi-annual Dividend

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) declared a semi-annual dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share by the transportation company on Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th.

ZTO Express (Cayman) has a payout ratio of 34.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect ZTO Express (Cayman) to earn $1.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.9%.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Stock Performance

Shares of ZTO stock traded down $1.60 on Thursday, hitting $20.17. The company had a trading volume of 4,347,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,084,103. The firm has a market cap of $12.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of -0.13. ZTO Express has a twelve month low of $17.89 and a twelve month high of $27.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $19.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.99.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The transportation company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.73 billion. ZTO Express (Cayman) had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 20.56%. Equities research analysts predict that ZTO Express will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ZTO shares. Hsbc Global Res lowered ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut ZTO Express (Cayman) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Thursday. HSBC cut shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.78.

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.