Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 143 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lessened its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,662 shares of the company’s stock after selling 143 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $3,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pensionfund Sabic raised its stake in shares of Zoetis by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in Zoetis during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,764,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Zoetis by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,916,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,834,000 after purchasing an additional 279,092 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Zoetis in the third quarter worth about $11,684,000. Finally, B&L Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Zoetis during the third quarter valued at approximately $563,000. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ZTS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. One 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.89.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of ZTS opened at $166.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a current ratio of 3.69. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $171.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $179.99. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.80 and a fifty-two week high of $200.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.20, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.89.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Zoetis’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This is an increase from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Zoetis’s payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

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.