Lipe & Dalton Sells 434 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Lipe & Dalton reduced its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,089 shares of the company’s stock after selling 434 shares during the period. Lipe & Dalton’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $1,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 245,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,036,000 after purchasing an additional 6,169 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,366,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,739,905,000 after purchasing an additional 120,158 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 24.7% in the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 33,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,550,000 after purchasing an additional 6,672 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 100.3% in the first quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 395,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,140,000 after purchasing an additional 198,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the first quarter valued at about $380,000. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Zoetis Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:ZTS traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $149.24. 472,029 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,602,454. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $139.70 and a one year high of $200.33. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.54.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.08. Zoetis had a return on equity of 55.48% and a net margin of 27.12%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. Zoetis’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect 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 Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ZTS. Leerink Partners downgraded Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zoetis

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $110,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,571,930. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.