Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $304,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 180.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,629 shares of the company's stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 2,978 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 419,530 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,354,000 after buying an additional 21,470 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 61.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,053 shares of the company's stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 1,157 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,733 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,215,000 after buying an additional 2,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 11,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,812,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Leerink Partners cut shares of Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a report on Thursday. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Four investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Zoetis presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,571,930. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ZTS traded down $1.42 on Friday, reaching $148.61. 4,703,508 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,037,349. 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 1-year low of $139.70 and a 1-year high of $200.33. The firm has a market cap of $66.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $161.00 and a 200-day moving average of $161.54.

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

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Zoetis's payout ratio is 35.91%.

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.