Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Receives Average Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned 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 ratings on the stock in the last year is $212.13.

A number of analysts recently commented on ZTS shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Zoetis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th.

Zoetis Stock Down 1.4%

ZTS stock opened at $156.98 on Tuesday. Zoetis has a 1-year low of $139.70 and a 1-year high of $200.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company's 50 day moving average is $161.23 and its 200 day moving average is $162.02. The stock has a market cap of $69.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.91.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.08. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 55.48%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Zoetis will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis's payout ratio is 35.91%.

Insider Activity at Zoetis

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $110,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,129 shares in the company, valued at $2,571,930. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Zoetis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Zoetis by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,556,164 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,842,222,000 after acquiring an additional 189,287 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,617,897 shares of the company's stock worth $1,726,075,000 after purchasing an additional 190,137 shares during the period. Polen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Zoetis by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,796,847 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,448,401,000 after buying an additional 1,313,653 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Zoetis by 78.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,958,543 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,133,755,000 after buying an additional 3,059,255 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Zoetis by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,504,902 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,071,032,000 after buying an additional 78,508 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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