New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 700 Shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board reduced its stake in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,575 shares of the company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $3,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. bought a new position in shares of Zoetis in the fourth quarter worth $215,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in Zoetis by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 419,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,354,000 after buying an additional 21,470 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth about $5,729,000. GFG Capital LLC grew its position in Zoetis by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. GFG Capital LLC now owns 1,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Zoetis during the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. 92.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ZTS. Barclays boosted their target price on Zoetis from $242.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Zoetis in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price for the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Zoetis in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Zoetis from $243.00 to $238.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $214.90.

Zoetis Trading Down 4.5 %

NYSE ZTS opened at $157.54 on Friday. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.80 and a 1-year high of $200.53. The company has a current ratio of 3.69, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $168.51 and a 200-day moving average of $178.81. The firm has a market cap of $71.07 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.90.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Zoetis’s payout ratio is 36.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zoetis

In other Zoetis news, EVP Roxanne Lagano sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total transaction of $55,804.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,757,196.26. This represents a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Zoetis Company Profile

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.