Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Acquires 83,646 Shares of Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 51.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 246,454 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,646 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $40,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Zoetis during the first quarter valued at about $616,375,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Zoetis during the first quarter valued at about $339,111,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 4,158.3% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,824,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782,110 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 14,731.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,759,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,747,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 17.6% during the first quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,796,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,448,401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,653 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Zoetis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut shares of Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $110,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 15,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,571,930. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of ZTS opened at $156.3180 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $69.28 billion, a PE ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.76. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.70 and a fifty-two week high of $200.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $153.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $158.64.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.41 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.83% and a return on equity of 56.90%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. Zoetis has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Zoetis

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.