North Star Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,418 Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

North Star Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ZTS. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. VeraBank N.A. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ZTS. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Zoetis from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $212.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Willie M. Reed sold 1,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.14, for a total transaction of $201,029.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,244.30. This represents a 9.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $55,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,682,770. The trade was a 2.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Zoetis Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of ZTS opened at $162.92 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.70 and a 52 week high of $200.33.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.91%.

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.