LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Lowers Holdings in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC reduced its position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 35,812 shares of the company’s stock after selling 297 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $5,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ZTS. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Zoetis by 13,726.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,865,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $950,524,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829,815 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Zoetis by 41,235.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 939,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,652,000 after purchasing an additional 937,700 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Zoetis by 7,608.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 835,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,874,000 after purchasing an additional 824,843 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Zoetis by 296.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 889,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,917,000 after buying an additional 665,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 38.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports 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 report on Friday, October 11th. Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective on the stock. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.89.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of ZTS stock opened at $166.01 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a current ratio of 3.69. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.80 and a fifty-two week high of $200.53. The company has a market capitalization of $74.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.20, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $170.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $179.98.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

Zoetis Company 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.