Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Boosts Stake in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 872.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 61,227 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 54,930 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $9,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ZTS. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 1st quarter valued at about $616,375,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 4,158.3% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,824,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,110 shares during the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Zoetis by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,796,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,448,401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,653 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Zoetis by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,595,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,691,000 after acquiring an additional 846,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its stake in Zoetis by 475.9% during the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 900,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,228,000 after acquiring an additional 743,926 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on ZTS. Leerink Partners downgraded Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Zoetis from $158.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $140.00 price objective on Zoetis in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Zoetis from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.00.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $120.47 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $53.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.01. Zoetis Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.07 and a 12-month high of $181.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.42 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 56.90% and a net margin of 27.83%.The company’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. Zoetis has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is 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.