New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 46,236 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 7.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 561,851 shares of the company's stock after selling 46,236 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.13% of Zoetis worth $92,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in Zoetis by 79.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 199 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Zoetis in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Zoetis by 141.4% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 280 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC boosted its stake in Zoetis by 614.6% in the first quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 293 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ZTS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price target 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. UBS Group dropped their price target 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. Finally, Leerink Partners cut shares of Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Zoetis presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.63.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

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

Zoetis Price Performance

NYSE ZTS traded up $0.37 on Thursday, hitting $151.91. The stock had a trading volume of 818,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,598,450. 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 has a market capitalization of $67.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $161.24 and a 200-day moving average of $161.62.

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

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis's payout ratio is 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.