Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Sold by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,060 shares of the company’s stock after selling 287 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $1,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ZTS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 13,726.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $950,524,000 after buying an additional 4,829,815 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 296.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 889,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,917,000 after buying an additional 665,331 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,266,000 after buying an additional 572,511 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the third quarter worth $110,809,000. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt acquired a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth $83,835,000. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ZTS. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $215.90.

Zoetis Stock Down 1.7 %

ZTS opened at $166.96 on Thursday. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.80 and a fifty-two week high of $200.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $166.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. On average, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.56%.

Insider Transactions at Zoetis

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total transaction of $55,804.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,757,196.26. The trade was a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Company 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.