61,703 Shares in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Acquired by Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise has made a new investment of approximately $10.16 million in Zoetis Inc., acquiring 61,703 shares of the company.
• Multiple large investors have increased their stakes in Zoetis, with notable increases up to 1,269.3% in holdings reported by Arrowstreet Capital.
• Zoetis recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, which represents an annualized yield of 1.33% and will be paid on September 3rd.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 61,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,160,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 88.9% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 27,778 shares of the company's stock worth $4,574,000 after acquiring an additional 13,073 shares during the period. Renaissance Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 53,168 shares of the company's stock worth $8,754,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 1st quarter worth about $164,000. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 42,672 shares of the company's stock worth $7,026,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616 shares during the period. Finally, Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 34.4% in the 1st quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 461 shares of the company's stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,129 shares in the company, valued at $2,571,930. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZTS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Leerink Partners cut shares of Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Zoetis currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.63.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ZTS traded up $1.64 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $147.43. 2,310,091 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,054,693. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.70 and a 52 week high of $200.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.74. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $158.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.58. The company has a market cap of $65.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.91.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.08. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 55.48%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.91%.

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.