Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Receives $215.90 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $215.90.

ZTS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th.

Zoetis Stock Performance

ZTS traded down $2.94 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $166.96. The stock had a trading volume of 3,667,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,280,360. The firm has a market cap of $74.76 billion, a PE ratio of 30.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Zoetis has a 12 month low of $144.80 and a 12 month high of $200.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.06.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 53.82%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. Analysts expect that Zoetis will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 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 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis's dividend payout ratio is 36.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total transaction of $55,804.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,107 shares in the company, valued at $2,757,196.26. This trade represents a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Callahan Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Zoetis by 90.4% during the fourth quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 13,105 shares of the company's stock worth $2,135,000 after buying an additional 6,221 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its position in 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. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Zoetis by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 237,369 shares of the company's stock worth $38,617,000 after purchasing an additional 46,050 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Zoetis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,764,000. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its stake in Zoetis by 2,050.0% in the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 30,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,904,000 after purchasing an additional 28,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company's stock.

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.