Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Bought by Ninety One North America Inc.

Ninety One North America Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund 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 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ZTS. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 1st quarter valued at about $134,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,166 shares of the company's stock valued at $786,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 51,581 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 102.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 724 shares of the company's stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 92.8% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,342 shares of the company's stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Zoetis Stock Performance

NYSE ZTS traded up $1.60 on Thursday, hitting $153.11. 4,729,796 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,989,420. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 3.36 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $177.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.39. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $148.48 and a fifty-two week high of $201.92. The firm has a market cap of $70.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.85.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.12%.

Insider Transactions at Zoetis

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 923 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.33, for a total transaction of $159,983.59. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,723 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,725,267.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 2,209 shares of company stock valued at $371,293 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Zoetis 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.