Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Stake Increased by Mather Group LLC.

Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,398 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ZTS. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 29.5% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 23.4% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 105,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,594,000 after acquiring an additional 20,001 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 6.1% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 92,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,032,000 after acquiring an additional 5,339 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 16.2% in the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 26.0% in the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 176,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,493,000 after acquiring an additional 36,384 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Stock Up 2.0 %

ZTS stock opened at $175.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.69 and a quick ratio of 2.27. Zoetis Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.80 and a 52-week high of $200.53. The company has a 50-day moving average of $169.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $179.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. This is a boost from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is 37.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Zoetis from $248.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Zoetis currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.00.

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.