Bleakley Financial Group LLC Lowers Stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 71.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,739 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,533 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $2,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Zoetis by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,749,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,895,235,000 after buying an additional 414,605 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Zoetis by 4.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,687,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $812,695,000 after buying an additional 178,303 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Zoetis by 2.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,050,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $685,416,000 after buying an additional 90,330 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Zoetis by 5.8% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,044,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,774,000 after buying an additional 166,517 shares during the period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its holdings in Zoetis by 546.3% during the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 2,253,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,682,000 after buying an additional 1,904,899 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on ZTS shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Zoetis from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Zoetis from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Zoetis from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $221.44.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $193.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 3.45 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $188.98 and a 200 day moving average of $177.07. Zoetis Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.80 and a 1 year high of $201.92.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 50.67% and a net margin of 26.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.432 per share. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.14%.

Zoetis Company 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.