Holderness Investments Co. Grows Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Holderness Investments Co. grew its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 25.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,663 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 950 shares during the quarter. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $760,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ZTS. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its position in Zoetis by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its position in Zoetis by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 18,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,628,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its position in Zoetis by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. VeraBank N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,373 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Zoetis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays lifted 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. Piper Sandler lifted 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. Finally, UBS Group started 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $215.90.

Zoetis Price Performance

ZTS stock opened at $163.15 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $166.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.67. The stock has a market cap of $73.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a PEG 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 53.82% and a net margin of 26.86%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders 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 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Zoetis news, Director Willie M. Reed sold 1,210 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.14, for a total transaction of $201,029.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,868,244.30. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $55,420.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,682,770. This trade represents a 2.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,862 shares of company stock valued at $312,254 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.