Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Bought by Schechter Investment Advisors LLC

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Free Report) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,186 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,641 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Zoetis were worth $2,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ZTS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in Zoetis by 13,726.9% during the third 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Zoetis by 296.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 889,444 shares of the company's stock valued at $144,917,000 after purchasing an additional 665,331 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Zoetis by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company's stock valued at $336,266,000 after purchasing an additional 572,511 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Zoetis during the third quarter valued at $110,809,000. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new stake in Zoetis during the fourth quarter valued at about $83,835,000. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ZTS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com cut Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $215.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $196.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Zoetis currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $215.90.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of ZTS stock traded down $2.94 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $166.96. The stock had a trading volume of 3,667,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,280,360. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $144.80 and a one year high of $200.33. 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 stock's 50-day moving average price is $166.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. Zoetis had a return on equity of 53.82% and a net margin of 26.86%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.30 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 21st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Zoetis's payout ratio is 36.56%.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

In related news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total value of $55,804.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,757,196.26. The trade was a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.