Vista Investment Partners LLC Acquires 463 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Vista Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,525 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the quarter. Zoetis comprises 1.4% of Vista Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Vista Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $4,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pensionfund Sabic grew its stake in shares of Zoetis by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth about $1,764,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,916,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,834,000 after buying an additional 279,092 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,684,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Zoetis by 38.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,266,000 after acquiring an additional 572,511 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on ZTS. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Zoetis presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.89.

Zoetis Trading Up 1.0 %

Zoetis stock opened at $168.63 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.70, a PEG ratio of 2.57 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Zoetis’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. This is an increase from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. Zoetis’s dividend 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.