Zoetis Inc. (ZTS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 on March 4th

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 12th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share on Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st. This is an increase from Zoetis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

Zoetis has increased its dividend payment by an average of 20.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Zoetis has a dividend payout ratio of 28.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Zoetis to earn $6.38 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 31.3%.

Zoetis Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Zoetis stock opened at $166.01 on Friday. Zoetis has a 52-week low of $144.80 and a 52-week high of $200.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.89. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $170.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.95.

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. Zoetis had a net margin of 26.55% and a return on equity of 51.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Zoetis will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZTS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Zoetis from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Zoetis to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective 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, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Zoetis in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Zoetis currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.