Wills Financial Group LLC Buys Shares of 20,890 Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Wills Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 20,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,440,000. Zoetis comprises about 1.5% of Wills Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Zoetis during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 79.3% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 199 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 87.6% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 257 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 141.4% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 614.6% during the first quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ZTS shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Leerink Partners cut Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $155.00 in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs cut Zoetis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.63.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $110,840.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,129 shares in the company, valued at $2,571,930. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of Zoetis stock opened at $147.40 on Monday. Zoetis Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.70 and a twelve month high of $200.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $158.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $160.35.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.08. Zoetis had a return on equity of 55.48% and a net margin of 27.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis’s payout ratio is currently 35.91%.

Zoetis 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.