Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Makes New $6.61 Million Investment in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky purchased a new position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS – Get Rating) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 44,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,608,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ZTS. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new position in Zoetis in the 1st quarter worth approximately $134,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 3.9% during 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 last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 102.8% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Zoetis by 92.8% during 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.23% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Stock Performance

ZTS stock opened at $164.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $76.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.76. Zoetis Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.15 and a 12-month high of $201.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.26.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Zoetis had a return on equity of 50.20% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 21st will be given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 20th. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ZTS. StockNews.com began coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays increased their target price on Zoetis from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $223.83.

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.