First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Stock Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

by · The Markets Daily

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS – Free Report) by 18.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,719 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,279 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $4,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 546.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 2,253,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,904,899 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Zoetis in the first quarter valued at about $210,815,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Zoetis by 41,235.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 939,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,652,000 after acquiring an additional 937,700 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Zoetis by 7,608.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 835,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,874,000 after acquiring an additional 824,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Zoetis by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,749,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,895,235,000 after acquiring an additional 414,605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Zoetis from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.44.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on ZTS

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of ZTS traded up $1.89 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $183.16. The stock had a trading volume of 465,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,501,229. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $189.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.25. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.80 and a fifty-two week high of $201.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 3.45.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.29% and a return on equity of 50.67%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.432 dividend. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Zoetis’s payout ratio is presently 33.14%.

Zoetis Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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