Ziff Davis jumps on $1.2B cash deal to sell Connectivity division to Accenture

Ziff Davis (ZD) is up 74.3% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The surge appears tied to Ziff Davis announcing a definitive agreement to sell its Connectivity division to Accenture for $1.2 billion in cash. Investors likely repriced the stock higher because the cash proceeds are large relative to Ziff Davis’ pre-deal equity value and could materially change the company’s balance sheet and capital allocation options.

Details:

Ziff Davis entered into an agreement to sell its Connectivity division to Accenture for $1.2 billion in cash (subject to customary adjustments and closing conditions).

The Connectivity portfolio includes Ookla and products such as Speedtest, Downdetector, Ekahau and RootMetrics, which are widely used for network testing, monitoring and outage/incident detection.

The Connectivity segment generated about $231 million of revenue in 2025 (roughly 16% of Ziff Davis’ total revenue), highlighting why monetizing the unit at this valuation is being treated as a major value-unlocking event.

Ziff Davis indicated it expects to use proceeds for general corporate purposes and capital allocation activities, and it expects to classify the Connectivity business as discontinued operations beginning in Q1 fiscal 2026.

Sources:

Ziff Davis Investor Relations, SEC (EDGAR), Accenture Newsroom, Barron’s

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$ZD Insider Trading Activity

$ZD insiders have traded $ZD stock on the open market 1 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 1 have been purchases and 0 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $ZD stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

SARAH ANN FAY purchased 1,354 shares for an estimated $49,949

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.

$ZD Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 132 institutional investors add shares of $ZD stock to their portfolio, and 196 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

PALE FIRE CAPITAL SE added 808,127 shares (+201.1%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $28,405,664
ARROWMARK COLORADO HOLDINGS LLC removed 764,311 shares (-35.8%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $26,865,531
ALLSPRING GLOBAL INVESTMENTS HOLDINGS, LLC removed 626,137 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q3 2025, for an estimated $23,855,819
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC added 431,828 shares (+260.5%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $15,178,754
LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP PLC removed 337,243 shares (-13.2%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $11,854,091
UBS AM, A DISTINCT BUSINESS UNIT OF UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC removed 330,895 shares (-74.5%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $11,630,959
WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP removed 324,152 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q3 2025, for an estimated $12,350,191

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.

$ZD Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $ZD recently. We have seen 5 analysts offer price targets for $ZD in the last 6 months, with a median target of $34.0.

Here are some recent targets:

Cory Carpenter from JP Morgan set a target price of $35.0 on 02/25/2026
Shweta Khajuria from Evercore ISI Group set a target price of $46.0 on 02/25/2026
Chris Kuntarich from UBS set a target price of $30.0 on 02/25/2026
Ygal Arounian from Citigroup set a target price of $29.0 on 02/25/2026
Ross Sandler from Barclays set a target price of $34.0 on 11/10/2025

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.