Pettee Investors Inc. Purchases 670 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

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

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Zoetis by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 104,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,489,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Zoetis by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,377,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $464,497,000 after acquiring an additional 351,372 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its stake in Zoetis by 62.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 3,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments raised its stake in Zoetis by 344.8% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 5,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 4,010 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Trading Up 1.8 %

ZTS stock opened at $170.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $166.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.78. The firm has a market cap of $76.28 billion, a PE ratio of 31.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.80 and a fifty-two week high of $200.33.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 36.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZTS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Zoetis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of Zoetis 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 directly owns 16,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,757,196.26. The trade was a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.