Suncoast Equity Management Purchases New Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Suncoast Equity Management bought a new position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,917,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pensionfund Sabic grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Zoetis in the fourth quarter valued at $1,764,000. Callahan Advisors LLC raised its stake in Zoetis by 90.4% in the fourth quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 13,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,135,000 after buying an additional 6,221 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Zoetis by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 237,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,617,000 after acquiring an additional 46,050 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Zoetis by 10.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,916,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,834,000 after purchasing an additional 279,092 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ZTS shares. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partners began coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Zoetis from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $214.90.

Zoetis Stock Performance

NYSE:ZTS opened at $157.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $70.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.90. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.80 and a fifty-two week high of $200.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $166.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.14.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zoetis

In related news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total value of $55,804.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.