Zoetis Inc. (ZTS) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $63.06.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank AG lowered shares of Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Cowen and Company set a $70.00 target price on shares of Zoetis and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Zoetis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 4th. Finally, Hilliard Lyons began coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Tuesday, June 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price for the company.

TRADEMARK VIOLATION NOTICE: This news story was originally posted by [[site]] and is the sole property of of [[site]]. If you are viewing this news story on another domain, it was illegally stolen and republished in violation of U.S. and international copyright and trademark legislation. The original version of this news story can be accessed at [[permalink]].

In related news, insider Catherine A. Knupp sold 5,785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.16, for a total value of $348,025.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,468,806.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Zoetis by 2,471.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 36,082,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,925,722,000 after buying an additional 34,679,064 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Zoetis by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,744,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,747,570,000 after buying an additional 546,287 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Zoetis by 4.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,256,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,134,453,000 after buying an additional 986,680 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Zoetis by 182.5% in the first quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,617,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $780,119,000 after buying an additional 9,442,207 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Zoetis by 4.2% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 9,254,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $493,921,000 after buying an additional 373,568 shares during the period. 95.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shares of Zoetis (NYSE ZTS) traded up 0.32% during midday trading on Friday, hitting $62.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,540,607 shares. Zoetis has a 52 week low of $46.86 and a 52 week high of $63.85. The company has a market cap of $30.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.17 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $62.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.47.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 17.25% and a return on equity of 65.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Zoetis will post $2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 13th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.42%.

Zoetis Company Profile

Zoetis Inc is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and commercialization of animal health medicines and vaccines, with a focus on both livestock and companion animals. The Company has a business, commercializing products across eight core species: cattle, swine, poultry, sheep and fish (collectively, livestock) and dogs, cats and horses (collectively, companion animals), and within five product categories: anti-infectives, vaccines, parasiticides, medicated feed additives and other pharmaceuticals.