Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Bought by Vaughan David Investments LLC IL

Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 197,314 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,330 shares during the quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $32,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 296.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 889,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,917,000 after buying an additional 665,331 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 572,511 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Zoetis in the third quarter worth about $110,809,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Zoetis by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,561,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $906,202,000 after purchasing an additional 433,429 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $2,757,196.26. This represents a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Zoetis Stock Up 3.1 %

ZTS stock opened at $165.51 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $74.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.90. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.80 and a 52 week high of $200.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $166.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. On average, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 21st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on ZTS shares. Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $215.40.

About Zoetis

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.