Courier Capital LLC Cuts Stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Courier Capital LLC cut its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 44.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,522 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,218 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pensionfund Sabic raised its position in shares of Zoetis by 55.6% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Zoetis by 10.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,916,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $569,834,000 after purchasing an additional 279,092 shares during the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Zoetis in the third quarter worth about $11,684,000. B&L Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $563,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Zoetis by 38.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,266,000 after buying an additional 572,511 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Zoetis Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ZTS opened at $164.31 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $171.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.16. The stock has a market cap of $74.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.89. Zoetis Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.80 and a 52-week high of $200.53. 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 (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. This is a positive change from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Zoetis currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.89.

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.