Zoetis Inc. $ZTS Shares Sold by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC reduced its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 31.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,563 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,676 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $1,581,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Zoetis by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,306,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,190,326,000 after buying an additional 419,777 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 79.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,932,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,222,000 after buying an additional 2,179,578 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,312,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $631,046,000 after buying an additional 550,859 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,241,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $620,595,000 after buying an additional 496,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fundsmith LLP grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fundsmith LLP now owns 3,615,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,966,000 after buying an additional 730,300 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZTS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Zoetis from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group set a $136.00 target price on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $160.00 target price on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. HSBC set a $140.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $136.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.91.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of ZTS opened at $118.17 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.75. Zoetis Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.29 and a 52-week high of $172.23. The company has a market capitalization of $49.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.98.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.08. Zoetis had a net margin of 28.24% and a return on equity of 62.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.000-7.100 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 20th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.22%.

About Zoetis

Zoetis Inc (NYSE: ZTS) is a global animal health company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of products and services for companion animals and livestock. The company’s offerings include pharmaceuticals, vaccines and biologics, parasiticides and anti-infectives, as well as diagnostic instruments, consumables and laboratory testing services. Zoetis serves the veterinary community, livestock producers and other animal-health customers with products designed to prevent, detect and treat disease and to support animal productivity and welfare.

Zoetis traces its roots to the animal health business of Pfizer and became an independent, publicly traded company following a 2013 separation and initial public offering.