Zoetis Inc. $ZTS Shares Sold by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp decreased its position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 91.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,674 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,191 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Zoetis by 10.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 39,430,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,833,453,000 after acquiring an additional 3,845,869 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Zoetis by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,667,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,413,323,000 after acquiring an additional 343,322 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Zoetis by 7.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,831,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $571,150,000 after acquiring an additional 327,313 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Zoetis by 5.8% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,851,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,506,000 after acquiring an additional 319,709 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Zoetis by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,252,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,559,000 after purchasing an additional 303,395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of Zoetis stock opened at $83.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51. The company has a market cap of $33.74 billion, a PE ratio of 12.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $76.13 and a 200-day moving average of $91.77. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.77 and a 1-year high of $132.49.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.24. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.15% and a return on equity of 85.90%. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 36.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Zoetis from $104.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Zoetis from $112.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Zoetis from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Zoetis from $83.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Zoetis from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Zoetis has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.25.

Zoetis Profile

Zoetis is an animal health company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets medicines, vaccines, diagnostic products and other services for animals. Its products support both companion animals, such as dogs and cats, and livestock, including cattle, pigs, poultry, sheep and fish. The company’s offerings include treatments for pain, infections and skin conditions, as well as vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostic tools and genetic testing services. Zoetis serves veterinarians, livestock producers and other animal health professionals around the world.