Zoetis Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:ZTS)

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share on Tuesday, June 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st.

Zoetis has increased its dividend payment by an average of 18.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Zoetis has a payout ratio of 28.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Zoetis to earn $6.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.6%.

Zoetis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ZTS traded down $3.03 on Friday, hitting $171.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,173,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,586,662. Zoetis has a 12 month low of $144.80 and a 12 month high of $200.53. The company has a market capitalization of $77.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $169.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a current ratio of 3.69.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Zoetis had a return on equity of 51.98% and a net margin of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Zoetis will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZTS has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Zoetis from $248.00 to $243.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Leerink Partnrs raised Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.00.

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.