ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (NYSE:ZIM) Short Interest Up 24.8% in April

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (NYSE:ZIM - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 21,700,000 shares, a growth of 24.8% from the March 31st total of 17,390,000 shares. Currently, 18.2% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,450,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ZIM. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services from $16.00 to $12.80 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on ZIM Integrated Shipping Services from $13.50 to $12.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $13.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ZIM Integrated Shipping Services

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in ZIM Integrated Shipping Services in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its stake in shares of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services by 650.0% in the 4th 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 stake in ZIM Integrated Shipping Services in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in ZIM Integrated Shipping Services during the fourth quarter worth $79,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in ZIM Integrated Shipping Services during the fourth quarter valued at about $88,000. Institutional investors own 21.42% of the company's stock.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Stock Up 4.3 %

ZIM traded up $0.59 on Thursday, reaching $14.19. 4,171,599 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,110,268. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.19, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $15.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.08. ZIM Integrated Shipping Services has a 52-week low of $11.04 and a 52-week high of $30.15.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (NYSE:ZIM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $1.19. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.99 billion. ZIM Integrated Shipping Services had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 48.63%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ZIM Integrated Shipping Services will post 16.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 24th were paid a dividend of $3.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 24th. 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 dividend yield of 89.39%. ZIM Integrated Shipping Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.