Bayforest Capital Ltd Increases Position in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in Zoetis Inc. by 150.4% during the first quarter, holding 3,068 shares valued at $505,000.
• Multiple institutional investors also significantly increased their stakes in Zoetis, with notable purchases from Nuveen LLC and Mackenzie Financial Corp, highlighting strong interest from hedge funds.
• Zoetis reported a 4.2% revenue growth year-over-year, with earnings of $1.76 per share that surpassed analyst expectations for the quarter ending August 5th.

Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 150.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,068 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,843 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd's holdings in Zoetis were worth $505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ZTS. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Zoetis in the 1st quarter valued at about $616,375,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Zoetis in the 1st quarter valued at about $339,111,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 4,158.3% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,824,967 shares of the company's stock valued at $300,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782,110 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 14,731.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,759,285 shares of the company's stock valued at $289,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,747,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,796,847 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,448,401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,653 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Leerink Partners cut Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Zoetis from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Argus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Zoetis currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.88.

Zoetis Price Performance

NYSE:ZTS traded down $2.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $148.33. The stock had a trading volume of 3,111,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,278,915. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $157.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $139.70 and a one year high of $200.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.89.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.83% and a return on equity of 56.90%. The company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Zoetis has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Company Profile

Zoetis Inc engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of animal health medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic products and services in the United States and internationally. The company commercializes products primarily across species, including livestock, such as cattle, swine, poultry, fish, and sheep and others; and companion animals comprising dogs, cats, and horses.