Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 80,018 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 9.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 935,925 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 80,018 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.21% of Zoetis worth $154,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ZTS. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in Zoetis by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 245,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,036,000 after acquiring an additional 6,169 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Zoetis by 24.7% during the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 33,709 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,550,000 after acquiring an additional 6,672 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Zoetis by 100.3% during the first quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 395,626 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,140,000 after acquiring an additional 198,089 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its stake in Zoetis by 31.2% during the first quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 7,394 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Zoetis during the first quarter valued at approximately $380,000. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ZTS. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Leerink Partners cut shares of Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.63.

Zoetis Price Performance

ZTS stock traded up $1.61 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $147.40. The company had a trading volume of 3,145,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,061,682. Zoetis Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.70 and a 1 year high of $200.33. The company has a market capitalization of $65.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $158.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $160.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.4%. Zoetis's dividend 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.