Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Zoetis Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from nine covering brokerages, with five rating the stock as a hold and four as a buy.
• The company's average 12-month price objective is $196.71, while it recently opened at $142.08 and has a market cap of $62.97 billion.
• Zoetis announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, with an annualized dividend rate of $2.00 and a yield of 1.4%.

Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $196.7143.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ZTS. Leerink Partnrs lowered Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Zoetis from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Zoetis in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Leerink Partners downgraded Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a report on Thursday, July 17th.

Zoetis Stock Performance

NYSE:ZTS opened at $142.08 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $62.97 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. Zoetis has a fifty-two week low of $139.34 and a fifty-two week high of $196.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $148.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $154.03.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion during 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. Zoetis has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Zoetis will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zoetis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ZTS. Nova Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Zoetis during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in Zoetis in the first quarter worth $27,000. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in Zoetis in the first quarter worth $29,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in Zoetis by 79.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 199 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Zoetis by 201.5% in the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 196 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company's stock.

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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