Avitas Wealth Management LLC Trims Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Avitas Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,901 shares of the company’s stock after selling 164 shares during the period. Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $371,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Zoetis by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,749,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,895,235,000 after buying an additional 414,605 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Zoetis by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,687,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $812,695,000 after buying an additional 178,303 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Zoetis by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,050,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $685,416,000 after buying an additional 90,330 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Zoetis by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,044,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,774,000 after buying an additional 166,517 shares during the period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its stake in Zoetis by 546.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 2,253,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,682,000 after buying an additional 1,904,899 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ZTS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $221.44.

Zoetis Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Zoetis stock opened at $182.78 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.28. Zoetis Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.80 and a 12-month high of $201.92. The company has a current ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $82.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.22, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.89.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.29% and a return on equity of 50.67%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.432 dividend. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 33.14%.

Zoetis 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.