Lafayette Investments Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Lafayette Investments Inc. grew its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,473 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in Zoetis by 54.3% in the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP increased its position in Zoetis by 859.0% in the 2nd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 13,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after acquiring an additional 11,975 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Zoetis in the 1st quarter valued at about $22,891,000. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Zoetis by 100.3% during the 1st quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 395,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,140,000 after acquiring an additional 198,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Soros Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Zoetis by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. Soros Capital Management LLC now owns 17,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,872,000 after acquiring an additional 4,230 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Zoetis Stock Up 0.7%

ZTS stock opened at $145.11 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $148.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.60. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.34 and a 52 week high of $193.00. The company has a market cap of $64.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.41 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Zoetis has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ZTS. UBS Group dropped their target price on Zoetis from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Zoetis in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Zoetis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $195.00.

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.