HUB Investment Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,373 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 2.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its position in Zoetis by 0.3% in the third 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 last quarter. VeraBank N.A. increased its position in Zoetis by 4.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in Zoetis by 1.4% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in Zoetis by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ZTS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One 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 MarketBeat.com, Zoetis has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.90.

Zoetis Price Performance

NYSE:ZTS opened at $162.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Zoetis Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.80 and a 52-week high of $200.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $166.76 and a 200 day moving average of $175.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted 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 company had revenue of $2.32 billion during 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors 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 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is 36.56%.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, Director Willie M. Reed sold 1,210 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.14, for a total transaction of $201,029.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total value of $55,804.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,757,196.26. This trade represents a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,862 shares of company stock valued at $312,254. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.