Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Reduces Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC reduced its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,151 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,145 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $7,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 13,726.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $950,524,000 after buying an additional 4,829,815 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Zoetis by 296.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 889,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,917,000 after acquiring an additional 665,331 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Zoetis by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,266,000 after purchasing an additional 572,511 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Zoetis in the third quarter worth $110,809,000. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth $83,835,000. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZTS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Zoetis currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $215.90.

Zoetis Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:ZTS opened at $166.96 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.80 and a 52 week high of $200.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $166.57 and a 200 day moving average of $176.99.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. Zoetis had a return on equity of 53.82% and a net margin of 26.86%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 36.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total transaction of $55,804.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,757,196.26. This trade represents a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% 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.