Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its holdings in Zoetis by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Zoetis by 10.6% during the third 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. acquired a new stake in Zoetis in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,684,000. B&L Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Zoetis in the third quarter worth approximately $563,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Zoetis by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,266,000 after acquiring an additional 572,511 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ZTS opened at $169.30 on Friday. Zoetis Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.80 and a 1-year high of $200.53. 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 $76.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $171.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.07.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Zoetis Inc. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. This is a positive change from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Zoetis’s payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note 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 research report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Zoetis from $210.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Zoetis currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.89.

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.