Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Cuts Stake in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Key Points

• Arrowstreet Capital cut its Zoetis stake by 35% in Q1, selling more than 1.06 million shares and leaving it with about 1.98 million shares valued at roughly $233.5 million.
• Several insiders bought shares recently, including directors Michael B. McCallister and Paul Bisaro, while company insiders overall own about 0.22% of Zoetis.
• Analysts remain mixed on the stock: recent price targets have been lowered by multiple firms, and MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of Hold with a $119.50 target price.

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership reduced its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 35.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,975,559 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,062,878 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.47% of Zoetis worth $233,531,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ZTS. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Zoetis in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,542,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Zoetis by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,558,183 shares of the company's stock worth $699,331,000 after acquiring an additional 891,921 shares during the last quarter. Pincus Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,109,000. Highbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Zoetis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,004,000. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,531 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,185,000 after purchasing an additional 60,167 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, Director Michael B. Mccallister bought 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $77.76 per share, with a total value of $233,280.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 24,524 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,906,986.24. This trade represents a 13.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul Bisaro purchased 2,000 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 11,650 shares of company stock valued at $886,384. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Zoetis

Here are the key news stories impacting Zoetis this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Several firms announced or promoted securities-fraud litigation against Zoetis, which can weigh on sentiment by raising legal, financial, and reputational risk for the company. Zoetis Inc. (ZTS) Shareholders Who Lost Money Have Opportunity to Lead Securities Fraud Lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: The class-action deadline reminders may keep the controversy in the spotlight and encourage more shareholder claims, adding overhang to the stock. ZOETIS CLASS ACTION DEADLINE MONDAY JULY 27th
• Neutral Sentiment: One Seeking Alpha commentary argues Zoetis sentiment remains strong and fundamentals are improving, offering a more constructive longer-term view. Zoetis: Sentiment Keeps Winning As Fundamentals Improve

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ZTS shares. Barclays cut their target price on Zoetis from $136.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. 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 research report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $115.00 to $99.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Zoetis from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Zoetis from $145.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $119.50.

Zoetis Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE ZTS opened at $75.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.25. The firm has a market cap of $31.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.75. Zoetis Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.47 and a twelve month high of $160.48.

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

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 20th. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.16%.

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.

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