Aviso Financial Inc. Sells 100 Shares of Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Aviso Financial Inc. lessened its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 6.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,396 shares of the company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Zoetis during the first quarter valued at about $616,375,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Zoetis during the first quarter valued at about $339,111,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Zoetis by 4,158.3% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,824,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,481,000 after buying an additional 1,782,110 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,747,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Zoetis by 17.6% during the first quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,796,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,448,401,000 after buying an additional 1,313,653 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Zoetis stock opened at $152.28 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $154.69 and a 200-day moving average of $158.90. The firm has a market cap of $67.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.88. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.70 and a 1-year high of $200.33.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.83% and a return on equity of 56.90%. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. Zoetis’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect 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 Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $110,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,129 shares in the company, valued at $2,571,930. This trade represents a 4.13% 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 owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ZTS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Zoetis from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Zoetis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Zoetis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.43.

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.