Midwest Professional Planners LTD. Purchases 273 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. raised its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,185 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 273 shares during the quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. LBP AM SA lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 112,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,379,000 after acquiring an additional 18,483 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 91.8% in the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 58,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,536,000 after purchasing an additional 28,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 1,074,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,127,000 after purchasing an additional 183,912 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $55,420.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,682,770. The trade was a 2.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,868,244.30. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,862 shares of company stock valued at $312,254 over the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Zoetis Price Performance

Zoetis stock opened at $161.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $166.82 and its 200 day moving average is $176.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $72.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $144.80 and a one year high of $200.33.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 53.82% and a net margin of 26.86%. As a group, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 21st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZTS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. UBS Group started coverage on Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.90.

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.