Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Acquired by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 108,293 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,537 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $21,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ZTS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Zoetis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $745,861,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Zoetis by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,872,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,593,395,000 after purchasing an additional 2,796,694 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Zoetis by 124,281.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,332,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,778,000 after purchasing an additional 2,330,285 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Zoetis by 171.7% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,326,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $627,335,000 after purchasing an additional 2,102,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in Zoetis in the 3rd quarter valued at $176,219,000. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Zoetis

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 923 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.17, for a total transaction of $139,529.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,237,316. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,209 shares of company stock worth $371,293. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ZTS. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (down from $220.00) on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Zoetis from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Zoetis from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Zoetis from $190.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Zoetis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Zoetis has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.75.

Zoetis Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of ZTS opened at $153.11 on Friday. Zoetis Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.48 and a 52-week high of $201.92. The company has a market capitalization of $70.03 billion, a PE ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.25% and a net margin of 27.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.432 per share. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.12%.

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.