Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Acquired by Smithfield Trust Co

Smithfield Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 14.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,094 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 267 shares during the quarter. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $410,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in Zoetis by 13,726.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $950,524,000 after purchasing an additional 4,829,815 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Zoetis by 4.0% during the second 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. 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 valued at $527,774,000 after buying an additional 166,517 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Zoetis by 17.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,377,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $464,497,000 after purchasing an additional 351,372 shares during the period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted 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 valued at $390,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,904,899 shares in the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of Zoetis stock opened at $176.71 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.45. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.80 and a fifty-two week high of $201.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.69 and a quick ratio of 2.27. The firm has a market cap of $79.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.90.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.432 per share. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 32.52%.

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.