Zoetis Inc. $ZTS Holdings Boosted by Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt

Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 882,200 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 172,300 shares during the period. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $129,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ZTS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Zoetis by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,306,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,190,326,000 after buying an additional 419,777 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Zoetis during the second quarter valued at approximately $809,491,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Zoetis by 5.7% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,659,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,629,000 after acquiring an additional 250,829 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake 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 valued at $631,046,000 after acquiring an additional 550,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Zoetis by 13.3% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,241,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $620,595,000 after acquiring an additional 496,320 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ZTS. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Zoetis to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Bank of America upped their price target on Zoetis from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Zoetis from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $136.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.91.

Zoetis Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $117.42 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $124.80 and a 200-day moving average of $130.99. The stock has a market cap of $49.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.95. Zoetis Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.47 and a 52-week high of $172.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 3.03.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.08. Zoetis had a return on equity of 62.02% and a net margin of 28.24%.The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.000-7.100 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 20th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 20th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.22%.

About Zoetis

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.