Spire Wealth Management Sells 5,744 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Spire Wealth Management lessened its holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 35.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,298 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,744 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $1,678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its stake in Zoetis by 55.6% during 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 during the period. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth $1,764,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Zoetis by 10.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,916,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,834,000 after buying an additional 279,092 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Zoetis during the third quarter worth $11,684,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Zoetis by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,266,000 after buying an additional 572,511 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Zoetis from $248.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $215.00.

Zoetis Stock Performance

ZTS stock opened at $171.93 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $169.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.44. The company has a market capitalization of $77.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.32, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.89. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.80 and a 1-year high of $200.53.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This is an increase from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. 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.