Metis Global Partners LLC Acquires 1,231 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,418 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $5,445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Callahan Advisors LLC lifted its position in Zoetis by 90.4% during the fourth quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 13,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,135,000 after purchasing an additional 6,221 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its position in Zoetis by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth about $1,764,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Zoetis by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 237,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,617,000 after purchasing an additional 46,050 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its position in Zoetis by 2,050.0% during the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 30,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,904,000 after purchasing an additional 28,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total transaction of $55,804.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,757,196.26. This trade represents a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Zoetis has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $215.90.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Zoetis stock opened at $167.58 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $166.30 and a 200-day moving average of $177.38. Zoetis Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.80 and a 1 year high of $200.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $75.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.90.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 36.56%.

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.