Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Makes New $311,000 Investment in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its position in Zoetis by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Zoetis by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Zoetis by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $768,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in shares of Zoetis by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Willie M. Reed sold 1,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.14, for a total transaction of $201,029.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,245 shares in the company, valued at $1,868,244.30. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 16,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,757,196.26. This trade represents a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,862 shares of company stock valued at $312,254 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZTS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Leerink Partners started coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $215.90.

Zoetis Stock Up 1.4 %

Zoetis stock opened at $165.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.80 and a 52 week high of $200.33. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $166.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.87. The firm has a market cap of $73.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 53.82% and a net margin of 26.86%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 21st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.56%.

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.