Burney Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Burney Co. grew its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 15.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,749 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Zoetis by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,779,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,864,488,000 after acquiring an additional 95,856 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,427,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,030,813,000 after purchasing an additional 185,364 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 13,726.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $950,524,000 after purchasing an additional 4,829,815 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 5.3% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 194,542 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Zoetis by 5.8% during the second 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 period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ZTS. UBS Group started coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Zoetis currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.89.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Zoetis stock opened at $166.01 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $179.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 3.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Zoetis Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.80 and a twelve month high of $200.53. The company has a market capitalization of $74.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.89.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. Zoetis’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. This is an increase from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Zoetis’s payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

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.