Cary Street Partners Financial LLC Reduces Stock Position in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Key Points

• Cary Street Partners Financial reduced its Zoetis stake by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 15,626 shares and leaving it with 83,034 shares worth about $10.45 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 92.8% of Zoetis shares. Several firms recently increased their positions, including Nordea Investment Management AB and Seilern Investment Management Ltd.
• Analysts currently have a Hold consensus on Zoetis, with an average price target of $133.92, while the stock also saw recent insider buying from two directors and a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share was announced.

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lessened its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,034 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,626 shares during the quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC's holdings in Zoetis were worth $10,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Zoetis by 79.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,932,787 shares of the company's stock worth $622,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,179,578 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Zoetis by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 251,495 shares of the company's stock worth $36,745,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434 shares in the last quarter. Seilern Investment Management Ltd increased its position in Zoetis by 361.2% during the 4th quarter. Seilern Investment Management Ltd now owns 333,465 shares of the company's stock worth $41,957,000 after purchasing an additional 261,155 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Zoetis by 134.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,631,619 shares of the company's stock valued at $205,290,000 after buying an additional 935,432 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its holdings in Zoetis by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 295,482 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,235,000 after buying an additional 18,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a report on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Zoetis from $130.00 to $99.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Zoetis from $145.00 to $112.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings cut Zoetis from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $133.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael B. Mccallister acquired 3,000 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $77.76 per share, with a total value of $233,280.00. Following the purchase, the director directly 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frank A. Damelio acquired 6,650 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $75.39 per share, for a total transaction of $501,343.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 21,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,617,718.62. This represents a 44.91% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have bought 11,650 shares of company stock valued at $886,384 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.

Zoetis Stock Down 0.1%

ZTS opened at $81.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 3.15 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day moving average of $107.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.17. Zoetis Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.38 and a 12 month high of $172.23.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.60 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.80% and a return on equity of 66.85%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.48 earnings per share. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.850-7.000 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 20th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 20th. Zoetis's payout ratio is currently 35.16%.

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.

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