Goldstein Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Goldstein Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,370 shares of the company’s stock after selling 377 shares during the period. Goldstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pensionfund Sabic grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Zoetis in the fourth quarter worth about $1,764,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Zoetis by 10.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,916,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,834,000 after acquiring an additional 279,092 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Zoetis in the third quarter worth about $11,684,000. Finally, B&L Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Zoetis in the third quarter worth about $563,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Zoetis Trading Down 0.5 %

Zoetis stock opened at $166.64 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 3.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.80 and a 52 week high of $200.53. The company has a market capitalization of $75.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $170.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.80.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Zoetis’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 presently 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.