Bridges Investment Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. decreased its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 267,830 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,031 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.06% of Zoetis worth $43,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in Zoetis by 13,726.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $950,524,000 after purchasing an additional 4,829,815 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 296.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 889,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,917,000 after purchasing an additional 665,331 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,266,000 after buying an additional 572,511 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Zoetis in the third quarter worth approximately $110,809,000. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $83,835,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total value of $55,804.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,107 shares in the company, valued at $2,757,196.26. This trade represents a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ZTS. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.90.

Zoetis Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:ZTS opened at $167.58 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $166.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.30. The stock has a market cap of $75.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Zoetis Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.80 and a 12 month high of $200.53.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Equities analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.56%.

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.