Swedbank AB Raises Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 56.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,946,277 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 700,398 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.43% of Zoetis worth $337,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter valued at $980,646,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Zoetis by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,716,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,707,262,000 after purchasing an additional 3,244,074 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado purchased a new position in shares of Zoetis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $242,757,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Zoetis by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,448,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,923,000 after buying an additional 797,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,953,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,564,000 after buying an additional 600,804 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ZTS traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $183.71. 1,569,380 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,759,420. The company has a market cap of $83.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 3.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $144.80 and a one year high of $201.92.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 50.67% and a net margin of 26.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be issued a $0.432 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 18th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ZTS. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Zoetis from $223.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Argus raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Zoetis from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.11.

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.