Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 12,900 Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 12,900 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Ziff Davis by 60.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 46,171 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,102,000 after acquiring an additional 17,379 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ziff Davis during the third quarter worth $893,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ziff Davis by 232.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 54,066 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,443,000 after purchasing an additional 37,800 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Ziff Davis by 18.6% during the third quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 5,909 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Ziff Davis by 381.8% during the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 24,252 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,545,000 after purchasing an additional 19,218 shares during the last quarter. 99.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ziff Davis

In other news, EVP Jeremy Rossen sold 4,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.43, for a total transaction of $288,967.66. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 7,261 shares in the company, valued at $504,131.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Ziff Davis from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ziff Davis in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on Ziff Davis from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Wedbush raised their price target on Ziff Davis from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Ziff Davis from $77.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ziff Davis has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.17.

Ziff Davis Price Performance

ZD opened at $51.08 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $61.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.80. Ziff Davis, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.13 and a 1 year high of $75.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 2.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a PE ratio of 62.29 and a beta of 1.19.

Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The technology company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.02. Ziff Davis had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 3.04%. The company had revenue of $389.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.71 million. Research analysts anticipate that Ziff Davis, Inc. will post 6.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ziff Davis

Ziff Davis, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media and internet company in the United States and internationally. The company offers PCMag, an online resource for laboratory-based product reviews, technology news, buying guides, and research papers; Mashable for publishing technology and culture content; Spiceworks Ziff Davis provides digital content of IT products and services; retailMeNot, a savings destination platform; Offers.com, a coupon and deals website; and event-based properties, including BlackFriday.com, TheBlackFriday.com, BestBlackFriday.com, and DealsofAmerica.com.