Zoetis Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:ZTS)

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share on Tuesday, June 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st.

Zoetis has increased its dividend payment by an average of 18.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Zoetis has a payout ratio of 28.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Zoetis to earn $6.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.6%.

Zoetis Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE ZTS traded down $3.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $171.09. The stock had a trading volume of 1,173,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,586,662. The company has a market capitalization of $77.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.90. Zoetis has a 1-year low of $144.80 and a 1-year 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. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $169.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.28.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Zoetis will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Zoetis from $248.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.00.

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.