Pettee Investors Inc. Raises Stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Pettee Investors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,220 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the quarter. Pettee Investors Inc.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $1,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 18,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,628,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Strategy Asset Managers LLC raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A. raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $768,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Zoetis currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $215.90.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 directly owns 16,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,757,196.26. The trade was a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Zoetis Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of ZTS opened at $170.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $76.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Zoetis Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.80 and a 12-month high of $200.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $166.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.78. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 21st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.56%.

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.