Zoetis Inc. $ZTS Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 7.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 56,290 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,138 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $8,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 180.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 2,978 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its position in Zoetis by 48.2% during the first quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 5,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in Zoetis by 5.3% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in Zoetis by 10.2% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 92,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,276,000 after purchasing an additional 8,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in Zoetis by 152.9% during the first quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 254,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,729,000 after purchasing an additional 153,792 shares in the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Zoetis Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:ZTS opened at $144.25 on Friday. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.34 and a 52 week high of $183.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.76. The company has a market capitalization of $63.93 billion, a PE ratio of 24.83, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $147.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.39.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. The business’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. Analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 20th. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Zoetis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Argus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Zoetis in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.