Ninety One UK Ltd Has $21.37 Million Stock Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 108,293 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,537 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $21,374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ZTS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Zoetis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $745,861,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,872,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,593,395,000 after acquiring an additional 2,796,694 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 124,281.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,332,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,778,000 after acquiring an additional 2,330,285 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 171.7% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,326,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $627,335,000 after acquiring an additional 2,102,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Zoetis in the third quarter valued at approximately $176,219,000. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ZTS. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $190.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Piper Sandler restated 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Zoetis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $221.75.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $153.11 on Friday. Zoetis Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.48 and a 12-month high of $201.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $176.49 and a 200-day moving average of $180.20.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.25% and a net margin of 27.43%. Zoetis’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.