Zoetis Inc. $ZTS Shares Sold by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 40.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 252,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 172,600 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $29,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 4th quarter worth about $734,425,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,780,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,011,802,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474,210 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 269.0% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,387,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740,113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 372.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,134,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,384 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Zoetis from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Barclays cut their price objective on Zoetis from $136.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Zoetis in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Zoetis from $99.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Zoetis from $190.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Zoetis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.33.

Zoetis Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE:ZTS opened at $77.51 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.24 and a 200-day moving average of $103.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.49 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.75. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.47 and a 52 week high of $160.48.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.60 by ($0.07). Zoetis had a return on equity of 66.85% and a net margin of 27.80%.The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.850-7.000 EPS. Analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 20th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frank A. Damelio purchased 6,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $75.39 per share, for a total transaction of $501,343.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael B. Mccallister purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $77.76 per share, with a total value of $233,280.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,906,986.24. The trade was a 13.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 11,650 shares of company stock valued at $886,384. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.