Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Buys 89,114 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 1,076.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 97,395 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,114 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $15,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ZTS. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 2.0% in the third quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 0.5% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 11,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,298,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its position in shares of Zoetis by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 18,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,628,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Strategy Asset Managers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Zoetis by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ZTS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Zoetis has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.89.

Zoetis Price Performance

ZTS stock opened at $164.93 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.31. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.80 and a 52 week high of $200.53. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 3.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.89.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. 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. Zoetis’s payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Zoetis 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.