Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Sold by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 42.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,751 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,648 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Zoetis were worth $3,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Zoetis by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 245,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,036,000 after buying an additional 6,169 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Zoetis by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,366,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,739,905,000 after buying an additional 120,158 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Zoetis by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 33,709 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,550,000 after buying an additional 6,672 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Zoetis during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,298,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Zoetis by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 431,899 shares of the company's stock worth $70,371,000 after purchasing an additional 62,025 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company's stock.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Zoetis stock opened at $156.17 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $160.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.73. The company has a market cap of $69.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.94. 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.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ZTS. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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 price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Zoetis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Zoetis presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $212.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction that occurred 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 now directly owns 15,129 shares in the company, valued at $2,571,930. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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