Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,057 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $1,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Zoetis in the first quarter valued at $25,000. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in Zoetis during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in Zoetis during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in Zoetis by 79.3% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 199 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Zoetis by 201.5% in the 2nd quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ZTS shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Zoetis in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Zoetis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $196.71.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of ZTS opened at $142.29 on Tuesday. Zoetis Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.34 and a twelve month high of $196.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $149.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.49, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

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

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.42%.

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.