Trust Point Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Trust Point Inc. lowered its position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,284 shares of the company’s stock after selling 365 shares during the quarter. Trust Point Inc.’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Zoetis by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in Zoetis by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 11,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,298,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its position in Zoetis by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 18,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,628,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Strategy Asset Managers LLC boosted its position in Zoetis by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its position in Zoetis by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on ZTS. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $248.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Zoetis presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $215.00.

Zoetis Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE ZTS opened at $175.65 on Thursday. Zoetis Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.80 and a 1 year high of $200.53. The stock has a market cap of $79.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $169.41 and a 200 day moving average of $179.35. 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 (NYSE:ZTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. Zoetis’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.