Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 410.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,827 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 143,804 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $33,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Zoetis by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,779,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,864,488,000 after acquiring an additional 95,856 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Zoetis by 13,726.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $950,524,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829,815 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Zoetis by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,687,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $812,695,000 after acquiring an additional 178,303 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Zoetis by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,896,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $761,221,000 after acquiring an additional 194,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Zoetis by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,044,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,774,000 after buying an additional 166,517 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZTS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Argus upgraded shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Zoetis has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.80.

Zoetis Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $174.77 on Friday. Zoetis Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.80 and a 1 year high of $201.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $182.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.69 and a quick ratio of 2.27. The company has a market cap of $78.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.85, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.89.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. Zoetis’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.432 dividend. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.52%.

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.