California State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

California State Teachers Retirement System cut its position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS – Get Rating) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 791,238 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,145 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Zoetis were worth $117,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in Zoetis during the 1st quarter valued at $134,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Zoetis by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 51,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,727,000 after buying an additional 1,914 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 102.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 367 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 92.8% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares during the period. 90.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ZTS has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Zoetis from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Zoetis presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $223.83.

Zoetis Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ZTS opened at $163.57 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $75.80 billion, a PE ratio of 36.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $164.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.14. Zoetis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.15 and a fifty-two week high of $201.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 14th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 50.20%. Zoetis’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 21st will be given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 20th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

About Zoetis

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Zoetis, Inc engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of medicines, vaccines, diagnostic products and services, biodevices, genetic tests, and precision animal health technology. The firm operates through the United States and International geographical segments. The United States segment is involved in U.S.