Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the ten research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $212.75.

ZTS has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Zoetis from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Zoetis from $189.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Zoetis from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Zoetis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th.

Zoetis Price Performance

ZTS stock opened at $161.63 on Friday. Zoetis has a 1 year low of $139.70 and a 1 year high of $200.33. The company has a market cap of $71.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $159.23 and a 200 day moving average of $163.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 55.48% and a net margin of 27.12%. The business’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Zoetis will post 6.07 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 35.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 652 shares of Zoetis stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $110,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,129 shares in the company, valued at $2,571,930. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Zoetis

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nova Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Zoetis in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the first quarter worth $27,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 5,533.3% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 169 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.