Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Takes Position in Zoetis Inc. $ZTS

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 10,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,598,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Zoetis by 180.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $754,000 after purchasing an additional 2,978 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,398,000. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 9.0% in the first quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 2,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. bought a new position in shares of Zoetis during the first quarter worth about $201,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 23.9% in the first quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 33,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,585,000 after acquiring an additional 6,541 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ZTS. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Zoetis to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Zoetis from $158.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Zoetis from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.18.

Zoetis Stock Up 1.6%

Zoetis stock opened at $125.50 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.97. Zoetis Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.25 and a 12-month high of $177.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $127.76 and its 200 day moving average is $143.53. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 3.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.42 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 28.21% and a return on equity of 57.19%. The business’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. Zoetis has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.300-6.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 20th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 20th. This is a positive change from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Zoetis’s payout ratio is presently 35.69%.

Zoetis Company Profile

Zoetis Inc (NYSE: ZTS) is a global animal health company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of products and services for companion animals and livestock. The company’s offerings include pharmaceuticals, vaccines and biologics, parasiticides and anti-infectives, as well as diagnostic instruments, consumables and laboratory testing services. Zoetis serves the veterinary community, livestock producers and other animal-health customers with products designed to prevent, detect and treat disease and to support animal productivity and welfare.

Zoetis traces its roots to the animal health business of Pfizer and became an independent, publicly traded company following a 2013 separation and initial public offering.