Zoetis Inc. $ZTS Shares Acquired by Select Equity Group L.P.

Key Points

• Select Equity Group L.P. has significantly increased its stake in Zoetis Inc. by 87.3% during the 1st quarter, now owning 355,331 shares valued at approximately $58.5 million.
• Several large investors, including Vanguard Group and Polen Capital Management, have also added to their holdings in Zoetis, with institutional ownership now at 92.8%.
• Zoetis reported a better-than-expected quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.76, surpassing estimates and reflecting a revenue increase of 4.2% year-over-year.

Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 87.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 355,331 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 165,628 shares during the quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. owned about 0.08% of Zoetis worth $58,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ZTS. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 1st quarter worth $616,375,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the 1st quarter worth about $339,111,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 4,158.3% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,824,967 shares of the company's stock worth $300,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,110 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 14,731.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,759,285 shares of the company's stock worth $289,666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,796,847 shares of the company's stock worth $1,448,401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,653 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZTS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Zoetis from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Leerink Partners downgraded Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Argus reissued a "buy" rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.88.

Zoetis Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE ZTS traded up $1.24 during trading on Thursday, hitting $150.66. The stock had a trading volume of 2,564,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,032,801. The company has a market capitalization of $66.77 billion, a PE ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $152.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.56. Zoetis Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.70 and a twelve month high of $200.33.

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

Zoetis 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.