Raymond James Financial Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Zoetis Inc. by 1.8% in Q1, resulting in ownership of approximately 1,228,806 shares worth $202.3 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted their stakes in Zoetis, with notable increases from Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC (16.1%) and Weik Capital Management (82.6%).
• Zoetis recently reported earnings of $1.76 per share, surpassing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, reflecting a 1.3% yield.

Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,228,806 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,840 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of Zoetis worth $202,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 16.1% in the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 22,886 shares of the company's stock worth $3,768,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166 shares in the last quarter. Weik Capital Management increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 82.6% in the first quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 6,865 shares of the company's stock worth $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 3,105 shares in the last quarter. Boston Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 20.8% in the first quarter. Boston Family Office LLC now owns 33,263 shares of the company's stock worth $5,477,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735 shares in the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the first quarter worth $202,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 5.1% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,085,742 shares of the company's stock worth $178,767,000 after acquiring an additional 53,001 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ZTS shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $202.43.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $154.15 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $68.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.70 and a 1-year high of $200.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $154.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $159.03.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.83% and a return on equity of 56.90%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $110,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,571,930. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Zoetis Company Profile

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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