Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT Boosts Stock Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 23.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,720 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $3,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ZTS. Pensionfund Sabic raised its position in shares of Zoetis by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in Zoetis in the 4th quarter worth about $1,764,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,916,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $569,834,000 after acquiring an additional 279,092 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,684,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Zoetis by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,266,000 after acquiring an additional 572,511 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ZTS shares. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Zoetis from $248.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.00.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $171.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $77.57 billion, a PE ratio of 32.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 3.69, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Zoetis Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.80 and a 12 month high of $200.53. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $169.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.44.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during 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 company earned $1.36 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. This is a boost from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Zoetis’s payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

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.