Forsta AP Fonden Trims Stock Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Forsta AP Fonden trimmed its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 130,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,600 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $21,295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Zoetis by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,779,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,864,488,000 after acquiring an additional 95,856 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,427,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,030,813,000 after purchasing an additional 185,364 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in Zoetis by 13,726.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $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 increased its holdings in Zoetis by 5.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 166,517 shares in the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Zoetis Trading Down 1.6 %

ZTS opened at $170.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.84 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.89. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $144.80 and a one year high of $200.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a current ratio of 3.69. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $169.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.65.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group started 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.89.

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.