Merit Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Zebra Technologies Co. (NASDAQ:ZBRA)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Zebra Technologies Co. (NASDAQ:ZBRA) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $626,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ZBRA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Zebra Technologies by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,260,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,417,942,000 after buying an additional 55,130 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Zebra Technologies by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,422,986 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $549,586,000 after purchasing an additional 20,992 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Zebra Technologies by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,296,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $500,701,000 after acquiring an additional 86,766 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Zebra Technologies by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,276,198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $491,935,000 after acquiring an additional 30,496 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Zebra Technologies by 62.8% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 983,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $379,930,000 after acquiring an additional 379,491 shares during the period. 91.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zebra Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ZBRA opened at $298.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33 and a beta of 1.75. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $261.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.43. Zebra Technologies Co. has a 52 week low of $205.73 and a 52 week high of $427.76.

Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ:ZBRA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.60 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Zebra Technologies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 10.60%. Zebra Technologies’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Zebra Technologies Co. will post 13.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ZBRA shares. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Zebra Technologies from $425.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Zebra Technologies from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Barclays cut their target price on Zebra Technologies from $326.00 to $263.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Zebra Technologies from $245.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Zebra Technologies from $379.00 to $254.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $328.82.

Zebra Technologies Company Profile

Zebra Technologies Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides enterprise asset intelligence solutions in the automatic identification and data capture solutions industry worldwide. It operates in two segments, Asset Intelligence & Tracking, and Enterprise Visibility & Mobility. The company designs, manufactures, and sells printers that produce labels, wristbands, tickets, receipts, and plastic cards; dye-sublimination thermal card printers that produce images, which are used for personal identification, access control, and financial transactions; radio frequency identification device (RFID) printers that encode data into passive RFID transponders; accessories and options for printers, including carrying cases, vehicle mounts, and battery chargers; stock and customized thermal labels, receipts, ribbons, plastic cards, and RFID tags for printers; and temperature-monitoring labels primarily used in vaccine distribution.