New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 21,424 Shares of Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 542,505 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,424 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.12% of Zoetis worth $79,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the second quarter valued at about $809,491,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 113.0% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,761,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,671,000 after buying an additional 1,995,491 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Zoetis by 85.9% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,578,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,619,000 after buying an additional 1,191,840 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in Zoetis by 362.6% in the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,176,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,705,000 after acquiring an additional 922,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Zoetis by 60.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,436,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,565,000 after acquiring an additional 917,598 shares in the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Zoetis Price Performance

NYSE:ZTS opened at $121.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.97. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.25 and a 1-year high of $177.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.47. The company has a current ratio of 3.64, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.08. Zoetis had a net margin of 28.21% and a return on equity of 57.19%. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Zoetis has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 20th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This is an increase from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 20th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ZTS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Zoetis from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Zoetis from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays began coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $136.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $160.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Zoetis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.45.

Zoetis Company 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.