Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Sold by Busey Bank

Busey Bank cut its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,570 shares of the company’s stock after selling 269 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ZTS. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its position in shares of Zoetis by 55.6% during the 4th 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 purchased a new position in Zoetis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,764,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Zoetis by 10.6% during the third 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 last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Zoetis during the third quarter worth $11,684,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Zoetis by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,266,000 after purchasing an additional 572,511 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ZTS. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Zoetis from $248.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Zoetis has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.00.

Zoetis Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $172.61 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.69 and a quick ratio of 2.27. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.80 and a 1-year high of $200.53. The firm has a market cap of $77.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.89.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Zoetis’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. This is an increase from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 37.59%.

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.