Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Shares Sold by Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank trimmed its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 141,047 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,733 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $22,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Zoetis by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 341,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,161,000 after buying an additional 9,476 shares during the period. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Zoetis in the second quarter valued at approximately $474,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its position in Zoetis by 19.2% in the second quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 5,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Zoetis by 10.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,250,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,197,000 after purchasing an additional 208,993 shares during the period. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its position in Zoetis by 33.8% in the second quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Zoetis Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of ZTS traded up $2.34 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $165.66. The company had a trading volume of 1,417,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,356,735. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $171.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $180.29. The stock has a market cap of $74.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.14, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.89. Zoetis Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.80 and a 52 week high of $200.53. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 3.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 1.21%. 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 37.59%.

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.