Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Purchases New Stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Callahan Advisors LLC boosted its position in Zoetis by 90.4% during the fourth quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 13,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,135,000 after purchasing an additional 6,221 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its position in Zoetis by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zoetis in the fourth quarter worth $1,764,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 237,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,617,000 after acquiring an additional 46,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 10.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,916,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,834,000 after acquiring an additional 279,092 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zoetis Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of ZTS opened at $165.51 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.90. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $144.80 and a one year high of $200.53. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $166.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.78.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced 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. Zoetis had a return on equity of 53.82% and a net margin of 26.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

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 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s payout ratio is currently 36.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZTS has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Zoetis from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Zoetis currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zoetis

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total transaction of $55,804.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,757,196.26. This represents a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently 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.