Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Bought by Sky Investment Group LLC

Sky Investment Group LLC grew its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 22,264 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,207 shares during the quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $3,627,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ZTS. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 2.0% in the third quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,021 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in Zoetis by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 11,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,298,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its holdings in Zoetis by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 18,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,628,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC raised its position in shares of Zoetis by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ZTS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group began coverage on Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.89.

Zoetis Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE ZTS opened at $166.01 on Tuesday. Zoetis Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.80 and a 12-month high of $200.53. The company has a market cap of $74.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 3.69, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.01.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. This is a positive change from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. Zoetis’s payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

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.