Short Interest in ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (NYSE:ZIM) Rises By 33.7%

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (NYSE:ZIM) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,390,000 shares, a growth of 33.7% from the March 15th total of 13,010,000 shares. Currently, 14.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,730,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its holdings in ZIM Integrated Shipping Services by 650.0% during the fourth quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in ZIM Integrated Shipping Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in ZIM Integrated Shipping Services during the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services during the fourth quarter worth $88,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 4,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 21.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ZIM shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services from $16.00 to $12.80 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on ZIM Integrated Shipping Services from $13.50 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.06.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Price Performance

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services stock opened at $13.75 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.84. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.60. ZIM Integrated Shipping Services has a 52 week low of $10.17 and a 52 week high of $30.15.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (NYSE:ZIM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The company reported $4.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $1.19. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. ZIM Integrated Shipping Services had a return on equity of 48.63% and a net margin of 19.26%. On average, equities analysts predict that ZIM Integrated Shipping Services will post 16.75 earnings per share for the current year.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 24th were given a $3.17 dividend. This is an increase from ZIM Integrated Shipping Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.81. This represents a $12.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 92.19%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 24th. ZIM Integrated Shipping Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.51%.

About ZIM Integrated Shipping Services

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides container shipping and related services in Israel and internationally. It provides door-to-door and port-to-port transportation services for various types of customers, including end-users, consolidators, and freight forwarders.