Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Position in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 267,000 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,000 shares during the period. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.06% of Zoetis worth $33,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ZTS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,780,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,011,802,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474,210 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the third quarter valued at $394,010,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 79.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,932,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,179,578 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 256.7% in the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,168,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,560,314 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 83.4% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,697,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,227,085 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ZTS. Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Zoetis from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Zoetis from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Zoetis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.25.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

In related news, Director Michael B. Mccallister acquired 3,000 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $77.76 per share, for a total transaction of $233,280.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of Zoetis stock opened at $76.92 on Wednesday. Zoetis Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.11 and a twelve month high of $172.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.76, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $115.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.28.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. Zoetis’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.850-7.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.9 earnings per share for the current year.

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.