Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Buys 324,847 Shares of Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 63.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 839,570 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 324,847 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $58,627,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ZTS. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Zoetis by 10.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 39,430,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,833,453,000 after buying an additional 3,845,869 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Zoetis by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,667,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,413,323,000 after acquiring an additional 343,322 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Zoetis by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,831,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $571,150,000 after acquiring an additional 327,313 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Zoetis by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,851,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,506,000 after acquiring an additional 319,709 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Zoetis by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,252,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,559,000 after acquiring an additional 303,395 shares in the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ZTS shares. Leerink Partners cut their target price on Zoetis from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Zoetis in a report on Friday, October 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Zoetis from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $104.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.25.

Zoetis Stock Up 3.5%

ZTS stock opened at $82.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 3.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.39. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.77 and a fifty-two week high of $132.49. The company has a market cap of $33.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.67.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 74.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.05%.

About Zoetis

Zoetis is an animal health company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets medicines, vaccines, diagnostic products and other services for animals. Its products support both companion animals, such as dogs and cats, and livestock, including cattle, pigs, poultry, sheep and fish.

The company’s offerings include treatments for pain, infections and skin conditions, as well as vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostic tools and genetic testing services. Zoetis serves veterinarians, livestock producers and other animal health professionals around the world.

Zoetis originated as Pfizer’s animal health business and became an independent public company in 2013.