Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Trims Stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 11.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,141 shares of the company’s stock after selling 548 shares during the quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ZTS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter valued at $824,321,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 78.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,958,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,133,755,000 after acquiring an additional 3,059,255 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 1st quarter worth about $339,111,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 14,731.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,759,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,747,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Zoetis in the 4th quarter worth about $196,651,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Zoetis from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group decreased 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $212.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zoetis

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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,571,930. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Zoetis Price Performance

Zoetis stock opened at $167.10 on Wednesday. Zoetis Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.70 and a 52-week high of $200.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $157.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 35.91%.

Zoetis 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.