Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 21,793 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 3.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 611,274 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,793 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $105,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Zoetis during the 4th quarter valued at $980,646,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,707,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,244,074 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 546.3% in the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 2,253,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,904,899 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the first quarter worth about $210,815,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado bought a new stake in Zoetis during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $242,757,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC dropped their price target on Zoetis from $230.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Zoetis from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Zoetis from $223.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Argus upgraded Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $217.11.

Zoetis Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE ZTS traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $183.49. 2,328,501 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,678,988. The stock has a market cap of $83.73 billion, a PE ratio of 35.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.86. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.80 and a 52 week high of $201.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $179.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.60. 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 (NYSE:ZTS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 50.67% and a net margin of 26.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. Analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.