California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 19,341 Shares of Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 2.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 704,179 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,341 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $83,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,780,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,011,802,000 after buying an additional 5,474,210 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its position in Zoetis by 12,431.2% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 24,069,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,028,423,000 after buying an additional 23,877,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Zoetis by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,796,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,490,845,000 after buying an additional 149,382 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Zoetis by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,327,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,420,294,000 after acquiring an additional 189,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Zoetis in the 4th quarter worth $734,425,000. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Zoetis news, Director Michael B. Mccallister bought 3,000 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $77.76 per share, with a total value of $233,280.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,906,986.24. This represents a 13.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paul Bisaro purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $75.88 per share, with a total value of $151,760.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 27,862 shares in the company, valued at $2,114,168.56. This represents a 7.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 11,650 shares of company stock worth $886,384. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $136.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Zoetis from $115.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Zoetis from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on Zoetis from $140.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.33.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of ZTS opened at $77.89 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 3.15 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $71.47 and a one year high of $160.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.66 billion, a PE ratio of 12.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.75.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by ($0.07). Zoetis had a return on equity of 66.85% and a net margin of 27.80%.The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Zoetis has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.850-7.000 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 20th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 20th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.16%.

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.