Zoetis Inc. $ZTS Shares Sold by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp cut its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 91.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $94.00 price target on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Zoetis from $83.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, November 6th. William Blair lowered Zoetis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Zoetis from $104.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Friday, October 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.25.

Zoetis Price Performance

NYSE:ZTS opened at $83.05 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $33.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $76.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.77. Zoetis Inc. has a one year low of $68.77 and a one year high of $132.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

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

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

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

About Zoetis

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.