Parthenon LLC Increases Stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Parthenon LLC boosted its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 9,743 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 562 shares during the quarter. Parthenon LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $1,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ZTS. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 546.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 2,253,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,682,000 after buying an additional 1,904,899 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Zoetis during the first quarter worth about $210,815,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 41,235.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 939,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,652,000 after purchasing an additional 937,700 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 7,608.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 835,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,874,000 after purchasing an additional 824,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,749,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,895,235,000 after purchasing an additional 414,605 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ZTS shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Zoetis from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Zoetis from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Zoetis from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.44.

Zoetis Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Zoetis stock traded up $1.15 on Wednesday, hitting $175.11. 280,196 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,532,437. Zoetis Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.80 and a 52-week high of $201.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 3.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $79.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.70, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $187.81 and its 200 day moving average is $180.04.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. Zoetis’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.432 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.52%.

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.