Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Sold by Harbour Capital Advisors LLC

Harbour Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,483 shares of the company’s stock after selling 84 shares during the period. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $1,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ZTS. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Zoetis by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,779,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,864,488,000 after purchasing an additional 95,856 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,427,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,030,813,000 after buying an additional 185,364 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 13,726.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $950,524,000 after buying an additional 4,829,815 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 5.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,896,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $761,221,000 after buying an additional 194,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Zoetis by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,044,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,774,000 after acquiring an additional 166,517 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.89.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ZTS traded up $2.88 during trading on Monday, hitting $166.20. The company had a trading volume of 1,191,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,331,014. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.29. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.80 and a fifty-two week high of $200.53.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Zoetis’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This is a boost from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 37.59%.

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.