Vantage Investment Partners LLC Buys 167,282 Shares of Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Key Points

• Vantage Investment Partners initiated a Zoetis stake of 167,282 shares valued at approximately $11.7 million, while institutional investors collectively own 92.8% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with seven Buy, twelve Hold and one Sell rating; Zoetis has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $98.40.
• Zoetis reported quarterly EPS of $1.87, slightly above expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.53, equivalent to a 2.7% annualized yield.

Vantage Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 167,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,681,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ZTS. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 39,430,181 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,833,453,000 after purchasing an additional 3,845,869 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,667,723 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,413,323,000 after purchasing an additional 343,322 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 5.8% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,851,737 shares of the company's stock worth $420,506,000 after purchasing an additional 319,709 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 7.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,831,652 shares of the company's stock worth $571,150,000 after purchasing an additional 327,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 7.7% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,252,140 shares of the company's stock worth $305,559,000 after purchasing an additional 303,395 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ZTS has been the subject of a number of research reports. HSBC dropped their price target on Zoetis from $140.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research raised Zoetis from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Zoetis from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Zoetis from $104.00 to $94.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Zoetis from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Zoetis has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.40.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Zoetis stock opened at $77.67 on Thursday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $74.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.11. Zoetis Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.77 and a twelve month high of $146.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.87. The company has a market cap of $32.10 billion, a PE ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.74.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 74.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. The business's revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.150-6.250 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.93%.

About Zoetis

Zoetis Inc is a global animal health company that develops, manufactures and markets medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, genetic products and related services for animals. Its offerings support the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease in both companion animals, including dogs, cats and horses, and livestock such as cattle, swine, poultry and fish.

The company's product portfolio includes prescription medicines, parasiticides, vaccines, veterinary diagnostics and animal genetics.

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