Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD)

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush cut their price objective on Ziff Davis from $78.00 to $70.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on Ziff Davis from $58.00 to $44.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ziff Davis from $52.00 to $47.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ziff Davis currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $71.50.

Ziff Davis Stock Down 1.3 %

ZD stock opened at $46.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.42. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.36 and a beta of 1.29. Ziff Davis has a twelve month low of $37.76 and a twelve month high of $70.90.

Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The technology company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $320.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $332.44 million. Ziff Davis had a net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 13.81%. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ziff Davis will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ziff Davis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Ziff Davis by 16.4% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,840 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in Ziff Davis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its stake in Ziff Davis by 386.9% during the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 31,242 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,720,000 after acquiring an additional 24,826 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its position in Ziff Davis by 41.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 15,274 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ziff Davis by 453.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 278,564 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,204,000 after purchasing an additional 228,257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

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.