Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,300,000 shares, a decrease of 15.2% from the June 30th total of 6,250,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zoetis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZTS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the fourth quarter worth about $980,646,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,716,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,707,262,000 after buying an additional 3,244,074 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Zoetis by 546.3% in the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 2,253,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,682,000 after buying an additional 1,904,899 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the first quarter worth about $210,815,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado purchased a new stake in shares of Zoetis in the fourth quarter worth about $242,757,000. Institutional investors own 92.80% of the company’s stock.

Zoetis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ZTS opened at $181.83 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.97 billion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.86. Zoetis has a twelve month low of $144.80 and a twelve month high of $201.92. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $174.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.89.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 27.38% and a return on equity of 50.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Zoetis will post 5.76 EPS for the current year.

Zoetis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.432 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 18th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Zoetis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ZTS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Zoetis from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Zoetis from $230.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Zoetis from $223.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Zoetis from $260.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $220.00 price target for the company. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.67.

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.