Zoetis Inc. $ZTS Shares Purchased by Vantage Investment Partners LLC

Key Points

• Vantage Investment Partners LLC increased its Zoetis stake by 28.8% in the fourth quarter, buying 22,189 more shares and lifting its total holding to 99,292 shares worth about $12.5 million.
• Insider buying was also notable, with directors Michael B. Mccallister and Paul Bisaro purchasing shares in May; insiders bought a total of 11,650 shares over the last 90 days.
• Zoetis recently missed quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $1.53 EPS on revenue of $2.26 billion, though it still raised its full-year EPS guidance to $6.85-$7.00 and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share.

Vantage Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 28.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,292 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 22,189 shares during the period. Vantage Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Zoetis were worth $12,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Zoetis by 79.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,932,787 shares of the company's stock worth $622,222,000 after buying an additional 2,179,578 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 4.3% in 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 during the period. Seilern Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 361.2% in 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 134.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,631,619 shares of the company's stock worth $205,290,000 after purchasing an additional 935,432 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 295,482 shares of the company's stock worth $43,235,000 after purchasing an additional 18,040 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, Director Michael B. Mccallister acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $77.76 per share, for a total transaction of $233,280.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 24,524 shares in the company, valued at $1,906,986.24. This trade represents a 13.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul Bisaro acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $75.88 per share, with a total value of $151,760.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 27,862 shares in the company, valued at $2,114,168.56. This represents a 7.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired a total of 11,650 shares of company stock worth $886,384 in the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ZTS opened at $81.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $34.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 3.15. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $72.38 and a one year high of $172.23. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $108.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.65.

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

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 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 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 20th. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZTS has been the topic of a number of research reports. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Zoetis in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Zoetis from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Leerink Partners restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Zoetis in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Zoetis from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $133.92.

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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