Avanza Fonder AB Buys Shares of 45,248 Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 45,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,372,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Zoetis by 12.3% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 49,298 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,530,000 after buying an additional 5,384 shares during the last quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 30.4% in the second quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 12,062 shares of the company's stock worth $2,091,000 after purchasing an additional 2,811 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 129.5% in the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 23,219 shares of the company's stock worth $4,025,000 after purchasing an additional 13,103 shares in the last quarter. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 14.4% in the second quarter. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. now owns 540,791 shares of the company's stock worth $93,752,000 after purchasing an additional 68,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 7,379.7% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 173,530 shares of the company's stock worth $30,083,000 after purchasing an additional 171,210 shares in the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ZTS shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $211.89.

Zoetis Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Zoetis stock traded down $3.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $166.01. The stock had a trading volume of 4,656,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,078,640. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $170.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.95. The stock has a market cap of $74.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.20, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.89. 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 12 month low of $144.80 and a 12 month high of $200.53.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Zoetis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.52%.

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.