Avanza Fonder AB Acquires New Stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 45,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,372,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 49,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,530,000 after buying an additional 5,384 shares during the last quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 30.4% in the 2nd quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 12,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,091,000 after buying an additional 2,811 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in Zoetis by 129.5% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 23,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,025,000 after buying an additional 13,103 shares during the last quarter. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Zoetis by 14.4% in the second quarter. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. now owns 540,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,752,000 after acquiring an additional 68,189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 7,379.7% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 173,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,083,000 after acquiring an additional 171,210 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of Zoetis stock opened at $168.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $76.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 3.69, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $171.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.07. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.80 and a 1-year high of $200.53.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ZTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective on the stock. Leerink Partners started coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.89.

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.