First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Acquires 35,253 Shares of Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Key Points

• First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. significantly boosted its stake in Zoetis Inc. by 449.2% during the second quarter, acquiring an additional 35,253 shares, bringing its total holdings to 43,101 shares valued at approximately $6.72 million.
• Analysts have mixed views on Zoetis, with Leerink Partners downgrading their rating from "outperform" to "market perform," while others like Piper Sandler increased their price target and rated the stock as "overweight."
• Zoetis announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, representing an annualized payment of $2.00 with a yield of 1.4%, set to be paid on December 2nd to shareholders of record by October 31st.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 449.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,101 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 35,253 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Zoetis were worth $6,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principle Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,913 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,431 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,662 shares of the company's stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. grew its position in Zoetis by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 53,253 shares of the company's stock worth $8,317,000 after acquiring an additional 5,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benin Management CORP increased its holdings in Zoetis by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 4,901 shares of the company's stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Zoetis from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Zoetis from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Argus restated a "buy" rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Zoetis presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $195.00.

Zoetis Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:ZTS opened at $146.28 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $64.83 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $148.47 and a 200-day moving average of $153.51. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $139.34 and a one year high of $189.98.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 56.90% and a net margin of 27.83%.The firm's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. Zoetis has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Zoetis's payout ratio is presently 34.42%.

About Zoetis

Zoetis Inc engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of animal health medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic products and services in the United States and internationally. The company commercializes products primarily across species, including livestock, such as cattle, swine, poultry, fish, and sheep and others; and companion animals comprising dogs, cats, and horses.

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