Marietta Investment Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Marietta Investment Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 52.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,243 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,731 shares during the quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Zoetis during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 80.6% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 168 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 482.8% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 5,533.3% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 45.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 305 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ZTS. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $215.90.

Zoetis Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $162.86 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $166.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.52. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $72.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.77, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.80 and a fifty-two week high of $200.33.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, Director Willie M. Reed sold 1,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.14, for a total value of $201,029.40. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total value of $55,804.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,107 shares in the company, valued at $2,757,196.26. This trade represents a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,862 shares of company stock valued at $312,254 in the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.