Zoetis Inc. $ZTS Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service boosted its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 1.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,390,442 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,084 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $203,449,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,886,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,532,276,000 after purchasing an additional 330,823 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Zoetis by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,081,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,721,356,000 after purchasing an additional 95,294 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Zoetis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $809,491,000. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Zoetis by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,659,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $726,629,000 after buying an additional 250,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Zoetis by 113.0% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Stock Performance

NYSE ZTS opened at $124.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 3.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $124.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.97. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.25 and a fifty-two week high of $177.40.

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

Zoetis Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ZTS. Wall Street Zen raised Zoetis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group set a $136.00 price target on Zoetis in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Zoetis to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $136.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $135.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, December 15th. Five investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average 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.