ZTO Express (Cayman) Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ZTO)

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE:ZTO) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 2,229 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 33% compared to the average daily volume of 1,682 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ZTO Express (Cayman)

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTO. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 119.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,061 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 2,758 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 10,282 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of ZTO Express (Cayman) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,255 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.65% of the company’s stock.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Stock Performance

ZTO traded down $1.63 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $20.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,634,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,073,684. The company has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.87, 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.99.

ZTO Express (Cayman) (NYSE:ZTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The transportation company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.73 billion. ZTO Express (Cayman) had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 15.44%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ZTO Express will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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