Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Takes Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,815,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 55.6% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in Zoetis during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,764,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Zoetis by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,916,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,834,000 after buying an additional 279,092 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,684,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,266,000 after buying an additional 572,511 shares during the period. 92.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ZTS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Zoetis from $248.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $215.00.

Zoetis Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Zoetis stock opened at $174.07 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $169.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 3.69 and a quick ratio of 2.27. The stock has a market cap of $78.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.72, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.90. Zoetis Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.80 and a 1 year high of $200.53.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. Zoetis’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. This is an increase from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is 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.