Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. Raises Stock Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 37.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 595,349 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 163,502 shares during the period. Zoetis comprises 1.2% of Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Zoetis worth $93,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth about $824,321,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 78.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,958,543 shares of the company's stock worth $1,133,755,000 after acquiring an additional 3,059,255 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the first quarter worth approximately $339,111,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $289,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,747,423 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $178,688,000. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ZTS. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Zoetis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $110,840.00. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Zoetis Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:ZTS traded down $1.54 on Thursday, hitting $150.00. The stock had a trading volume of 3,575,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,610,616. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $66.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.91. Zoetis Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.70 and a 1 year high of $200.33. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $161.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $161.62.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.08. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 55.48%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.91%.

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.