Cove Private Wealth LLC Purchases Shares of 3,970 Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Cove Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $647,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ZTS. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Zoetis by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,779,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,864,488,000 after purchasing an additional 95,856 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Zoetis by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,427,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,030,813,000 after buying an additional 185,364 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Zoetis by 13,726.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $950,524,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829,815 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Zoetis by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,896,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $761,221,000 after acquiring an additional 194,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Zoetis by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,044,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,774,000 after acquiring an additional 166,517 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Zoetis Trading Down 2.0 %

Zoetis stock opened at $166.01 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.90 billion, a P/E 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 quick ratio of 2.27 and a current ratio of 3.69. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.80 and a 52 week high of $200.53.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This is a positive change from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio 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.