Ninety One North America Inc. Grows Stock Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Ninety One North America Inc. increased its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,976 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,201 shares during the period. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $7,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 923 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.33, for a total transaction of $159,983.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,725,267.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Zoetis Stock Performance

ZTS traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $152.35. 2,462,755 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,956,180. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.39. Zoetis Inc. has a 12 month low of $148.48 and a 12 month high of $201.92. The stock has a market cap of $69.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 3.36 and a quick ratio of 2.00.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.32 by ($0.08). Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.25% and a net margin of 27.43%. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.432 per share. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.12%.

Zoetis Company Profile

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.