AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 14.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 97,480 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,063 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $16,899,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 89.1% in the first quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Zoetis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zoetis in the first quarter worth $43,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 60.7% during the first quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 270 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, Central Valley Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the second quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ZTS. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Zoetis from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Zoetis from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $220.38.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of ZTS opened at $194.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 3.45 and a quick ratio of 2.09. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.80 and a 1-year high of $201.92. The stock has a market cap of $88.11 billion, a PE ratio of 37.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $186.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.09.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 50.67% and a net margin of 26.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

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.