Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Grows Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC increased its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,727 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,544 shares during the period. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $21,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. VeraBank N.A. increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Zoetis by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Stock Up 1.7%

ZTS stock opened at $163.03 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $156.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $165.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.70 and a 1-year high of $200.33. The firm has a market cap of $72.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.80, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. Zoetis’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ZTS. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on 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 decreased their target price on shares of Zoetis from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Zoetis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $212.75.

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.