HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 129,665 Shares of Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 28.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 323,020 shares of the company’s stock after selling 129,665 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $40,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Zoetis by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,780,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,011,802,000 after purchasing an additional 5,474,210 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Zoetis by 79.2% in the fourth 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. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Zoetis by 14.6% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,312,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $631,046,000 after purchasing an additional 550,859 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Zoetis by 13.3% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,241,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $620,595,000 after purchasing an additional 496,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fundsmith LLP raised its holdings in Zoetis by 25.3% in the third quarter. Fundsmith LLP now owns 3,615,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,966,000 after purchasing an additional 730,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, Director Paul Bisaro acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $75.88 per share, with a total value of $151,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 27,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,114,168.56. This represents a 7.73% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frank A. Damelio acquired 6,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $75.39 per share, for a total transaction of $501,343.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 21,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,617,718.62. The trade was a 44.91% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have acquired 11,650 shares of company stock valued at $886,384 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Zoetis from $130.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $105.00 target price on Zoetis in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut Zoetis from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partners reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Zoetis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.75.

Zoetis Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE ZTS opened at $80.13 on Friday. Zoetis Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.38 and a 12 month high of $172.23. The stock has a market cap of $33.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $108.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.92. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by ($0.07). Zoetis had a return on equity of 66.85% and a net margin of 27.80%.The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.850-7.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 20th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 20th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.16%.

Zoetis Company 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.