Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Buys 64,921 Shares of Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ increased its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 19.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 393,516 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 64,921 shares during the quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $46,517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its position in shares of Zoetis by 12,431.2% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 24,069,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,028,423,000 after acquiring an additional 23,877,416 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Zoetis in the fourth quarter worth $734,425,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Zoetis by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,780,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,011,802,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474,210 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Zoetis by 79.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,932,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $622,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,179,578 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Zoetis by 269.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,387,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740,113 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ZTS. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Zoetis in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings cut Zoetis from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Zoetis from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.08.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

In other news, Director Frank A. Damelio acquired 6,650 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $75.39 per share, for a total transaction of $501,343.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,617,718.62. The trade was a 44.91% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul Bisaro bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $75.88 per share, with a total value of $151,760.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 27,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,114,168.56. This represents a 7.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have bought a total of 11,650 shares of company stock valued at $886,384 in the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Zoetis Price Performance

ZTS stock opened at $73.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $30.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 3.15 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.59. Zoetis Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.38 and a 1 year high of $161.77.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.80% and a return on equity of 66.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.48 EPS. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.850-7.000 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 20th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.16%.

Zoetis Profile

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.