Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) Short Interest Up 21.5% in February

Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD – Get Rating) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,000,000 shares, a growth of 21.5% from the January 31st total of 2,470,000 shares. Currently, 6.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 295,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 10.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ziff Davis

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ZD. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ziff Davis during the 1st quarter valued at about $63,717,000. Raymond James & Associates bought a new stake in shares of Ziff Davis during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,469,000. US Bancorp DE bought a new stake in shares of Ziff Davis during the 1st quarter valued at about $539,000. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ziff Davis during the 1st quarter valued at about $241,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ziff Davis during the 1st quarter valued at about $707,000. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on ZD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ziff Davis from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Ziff Davis from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 10th. TheStreet raised Ziff Davis from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 29th. Barclays started coverage on Ziff Davis in a research report on Friday, January 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Ziff Davis from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.80.

Ziff Davis Price Performance

NASDAQ ZD opened at $78.21 on Thursday. Ziff Davis has a one year low of $66.85 and a one year high of $103.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $84.19 and a 200 day moving average of $81.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a current ratio of 2.51.

About Ziff Davis

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Ziff Davis, Inc is a digital media and internet company. It operates through the following segments: Digital Media and Cybersecurity and Martech. The Digital Media segment consists of a portfolio of web properties and apps which include IGN, RetailMeNot, Mashable, PCMag, Humble Bundle,Speedtest, Offers, Black Friday, MedPageToday, Everyday Health, BabyCenter and What to Expect, among others.