Brighton Jones LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 15.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,349 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ZTS. Norges Bank bought a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter valued at $824,321,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Zoetis by 78.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,958,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,133,755,000 after purchasing an additional 3,059,255 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new position in Zoetis during the first quarter valued at $339,111,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Zoetis by 14,731.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,759,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747,423 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter valued at $196,651,000. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ZTS opened at $164.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $73.18 billion, a PE ratio of 30.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. 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 of $159.07 and a 200-day moving average of $163.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 53.82% and a net margin of 26.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $110,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZTS has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Zoetis from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Zoetis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.75.

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.