Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Raises Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 583,224 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 43,213 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.13% of Zoetis worth $96,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 79.3% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 199 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 87.6% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 257 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in Zoetis by 141.4% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 280 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ZTS shares. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. 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. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.63.

Zoetis Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of Zoetis stock traded up $3.82 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $151.19. The company had a trading volume of 4,560,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,636,400. The firm has a market cap of $67.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.91. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.70 and a fifty-two week high of $200.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $160.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.42.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 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 firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Zoetis's payout ratio is 35.91%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $110,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,571,930. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.