Ariel Investments LLC Decreases Stake in Zebra Technologies Corporation $ZBRA

Key Points

• Ariel Investments LLC reduced its stake in Zebra Technologies by 3.5%, owning 226,052 shares valued at $63.87 million after selling 8,266 shares.
• Zebra Technologies reported $3.61 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, with revenue of $1.29 billion reflecting a 6.2% increase year-over-year.
• The company's board approved a $250 million share repurchase program, indicating confidence in the stock's valuation.

Ariel Investments LLC reduced its stake in shares of Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:ZBRA - Free Report) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 226,052 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 8,266 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC owned approximately 0.44% of Zebra Technologies worth $63,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Zebra Technologies by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,365,470 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,798,627,000 after purchasing an additional 104,940 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Zebra Technologies by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,183,710 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $334,469,000 after purchasing an additional 255,193 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Zebra Technologies by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 978,109 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $276,375,000 after purchasing an additional 43,500 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Zebra Technologies by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 575,869 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $162,718,000 after purchasing an additional 78,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Zebra Technologies by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 442,788 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $125,114,000 after buying an additional 118,247 shares in the last quarter. 91.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zebra Technologies Price Performance

ZBRA stock traded up $2.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $313.80. The stock had a trading volume of 454,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 470,896. The company's 50 day moving average price is $322.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.53. Zebra Technologies Corporation has a 1-year low of $205.73 and a 1-year high of $427.76. The stock has a market cap of $15.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ:ZBRA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $3.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.30. Zebra Technologies had a net margin of 10.56% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.18 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Zebra Technologies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.250-15.750 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 3.600-3.800 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Zebra Technologies Corporation will post 13.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Zebra Technologies declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZBRA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Zebra Technologies from $269.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Zebra Technologies from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays set a $301.00 price objective on shares of Zebra Technologies and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Zebra Technologies from $320.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Zebra Technologies from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $357.44.

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.