Allianz SE Invests $369,000 in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Allianz SE purchased a new stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Zoetis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 79.3% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 199 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 87.6% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 141.4% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 614.6% in the 1st quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on ZTS shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Leerink Partners lowered Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Zoetis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Zoetis currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.63.

Zoetis Stock Up 1.1%

ZTS opened at $147.40 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $158.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $160.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.74. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.70 and a fifty-two week high of $200.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.46, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.88.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 55.48% and a net margin of 27.12%. Zoetis’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.91%.

Insider Transactions at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,571,930. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Zoetis

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.