Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) Stock Price Up 2%

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $152.85 and last traded at $152.78. 1,119,288 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 2,906,440 shares. The stock had previously closed at $149.77.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Zoetis from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Zoetis from $190.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (down from $220.00) on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Zoetis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Zoetis currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $221.75.

Zoetis Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 3.36. The stock has a market cap of $69.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm's 50 day moving average is $179.11 and its 200 day moving average is $180.74.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.32 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.25% and a net margin of 27.43%. The company's revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.8 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.432 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Zoetis's payout ratio is 33.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 923 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.43, for a total transaction of $176,689.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,363,233.67. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,209 shares of company stock worth $408,453. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Zoetis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,334,966 shares of the company's stock worth $7,960,912,000 after acquiring an additional 536,477 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,716,681 shares of the company's stock worth $2,707,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,244,074 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,344,692 shares of the company's stock worth $2,147,730,000 after acquiring an additional 297,044 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,872,704 shares of the company's stock worth $1,593,395,000 after acquiring an additional 2,796,694 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 0.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,739,370 shares of the company's stock worth $1,617,464,000 after acquiring an additional 27,097 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company's stock.

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.