Motco Decreases Stock Holdings in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Motco decreased its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 99.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 205 shares of the company’s stock after selling 61,100 shares during the quarter. Motco’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $26,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northbridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Zoetis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $300,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 71,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,970,000 after buying an additional 5,480 shares during the period. Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd now owns 29,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,682,000 after buying an additional 13,194 shares during the period. Hudson Canyon Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Canyon Capital Management now owns 14,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 416,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,375,000 after buying an additional 17,497 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael B. Mccallister purchased 3,000 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $77.76 per share, for a total transaction of $233,280.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 24,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,906,986.24. The trade was a 13.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frank A. Damelio purchased 6,650 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $75.39 per share, with a total value of $501,343.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 21,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,617,718.62. This represents a 44.91% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders purchased 11,650 shares of company stock worth $886,384 over the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of ZTS opened at $80.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $33.59 billion, a PE ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 3.15. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.38 and a fifty-two week high of $172.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.92.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 66.85% and a net margin of 27.80%.Zoetis’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.48 EPS. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.850-7.000 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 20th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 20th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Zoetis from $130.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Zoetis from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Zoetis from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $105.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.75.

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.