Exploring Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA) Investor Profile: Who’s Buying and Why?

You've been tracking Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA) because its AI-driven marketing platform is a clear market disruptor, but you're probably asking: is the institutional money truly buying the growth story, or are they just window dressing? As of November 2025, the data shows a decisive commitment: institutional ownership stands at a significant 67.31% of the company's shares, a figure that demands attention. We're not just talking about passive index funds either; while giants like Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock, Inc. are top holders, the real action is in the conviction buys, like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increasing its position by a massive 368.462% in the third quarter of 2025. This aggressive buying comes as Zeta raised its full-year 2025 revenue guidance to approximately $1.275 billion and reported a Q3 free cash flow of $47 million, an 83% jump year-over-year, which is a defintely strong signal of operational efficiency. So, who are these major players, and why are they piling into a stock that is still chasing net income profitability?

Who Invests in Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA) and Why?

You want to know who is betting on Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA) and what their thesis is, especially with the company's strong Q3 2025 results. The direct takeaway is that ZETA is overwhelmingly an institutional growth play, with major funds buying into the narrative that the company is transforming from a volatile ad-tech player into a durable, AI-powered software platform that generates significant free cash flow.

The investor base is not evenly split. It is heavily weighted toward large institutions, which own approximately 67% to 69% of the outstanding stock as of late 2025. This means the stock's price movements are highly sensitive to the trading actions of a few hundred major funds. The general public, or individual retail investors, holds a much smaller, though still significant, stake, around 13%.

The top institutional shareholders include massive asset managers like Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock, Inc.. They are passive index-tracking funds, yes, but their sheer size makes them anchors in the ownership structure. Active institutional money, including hedge funds and specialized growth funds, are primarily focused on the company's accelerating shift to a high-margin, predictable business model.

Investment Motivations: The AI-Powered Growth Thesis

Investors are attracted to ZETA for three core reasons, all tied to the company's financial transition and its position in the evolving marketing technology (MarTech) landscape.

• AI-Driven Market Position: ZETA is positioned as a leader in the AI-powered marketing category, leveraging its proprietary data cloud to drive customer results, which is a key differentiator as the industry moves away from third-party cookies. The launch of the Athena conversational AI agent is a major catalyst for this narrative.
• Accelerating, Profitable Growth: The company is demonstrating that its growth is becoming more profitable. In Q3 2025, revenue grew 26% year-over-year to $337 million. More critically, adjusted EBITDA surged 46% year-over-year to $78.1 million, with the margin expanding to 23.2%. That's a clear sign of operating leverage.
• Cash Flow Generation: This is the proof point for the business model. Free Cash Flow (FCF) is exploding, growing 83% year-over-year to $47.1 million in Q3 2025. Management is so confident they raised their full-year 2025 FCF guidance to $157.4 million. Strong FCF signals a healthy, efficient underlying business.

Here's the quick math on the full-year 2025 guidance: Management expects revenue between $1.273 billion and $1.276 billion, with adjusted EBITDA around $273.2 million to $274.1 million. This kind of top-line growth paired with strong bottom-line margin expansion is what growth investors demand.

Investment Strategies: Long-Term Compounding vs. Short-Term Volatility

The dominant strategy among the large institutional holders is long-term growth holding. They are betting on the multi-year transformation of ZETA into a durable, cash-compounding machine, not a quick trade. They see the company's ability to consistently beat and raise guidance-17 consecutive quarters, by one count-as evidence of a predictable business model.

However, the stock still sees short-term trading, often driven by the fact that the company is not yet GAAP profitable (it reported a net loss of $3.63 million in Q3 2025, though that was a significant improvement from the prior year). This ongoing net loss is the most significant risk that value investors and short-term traders focus on.

The key strategies at play are:

To be fair, the stock price reaction to the strong Q3 2025 results was initially negative, dropping 5.22% in after-hours trading. This suggests that even with great numbers, the market is defintely still weighing macroeconomic pressures and competition from giants like Adobe and Salesforce against ZETA's operational execution. The long-term bet is on the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA). translating into sustained profitability.

The clear action for any potential investor is to monitor the FCF conversion rate and the growth of the super-scaled customer count, which is up 25% to 180 in Q3 2025. That metric shows the platform's stickiness and ability to drive higher average revenue per user.

Institutional Ownership and Major Shareholders of Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA)

You are looking at Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA) because the institutional money is already there, and you want to know which direction they are pushing. The direct takeaway is this: institutional investors hold a significant majority of the stock, and while some are taking profits, the overall trend in the third quarter of 2025 showed a strong net accumulation, signaling confidence in the company's AI-driven growth trajectory.

As of the end of the third quarter of the 2025 fiscal year (September 30, 2025), institutional ownership of Zeta Global Holdings Corp. stood at approximately 84.60% of the total shares outstanding. This represents a total of roughly 183,517,181 shares held by major financial institutions. When institutions own this much of a company, their collective trading activity-buying or selling-can defintely dictate the near-term stock price movement. It's a classic case of the stock being sensitive to their large-scale decisions.

Top Institutional Investors and Their Q3 2025 Holdings

The investor profile of Zeta Global Holdings Corp. is dominated by some of the largest asset managers in the world, including index fund giants and active growth-focused funds. These top holders are primarily interested in the long-term potential of the Zeta Marketing Platform (ZMP), which leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to provide consumer intelligence and marketing automation.

Here's the quick math on the top holders as of September 30, 2025, showing the sheer scale of their positions. What this estimate hides is the strategic difference between a passive index fund and an active manager, but the numbers speak for themselves on influence.

Net Accumulation: The Story of Ownership Changes

Have institutional investors increased or decreased their stakes recently? The data from the Q3 2025 13F filings shows a clear pattern of net accumulation. While the largest passive investors like Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock, Inc. slightly reduced their holdings-likely due to portfolio rebalancing-a significant number of active managers were buying aggressively.

Overall, during Q3 2025, there were 221 institutional holders that increased their positions, adding a total of 43,464,403 shares. In contrast, only 149 institutions decreased their positions, selling a total of 20,363,356 shares. This means the net institutional inflow was strongly positive, indicating that more money is moving into the stock than out.

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position by a massive 368.462%, adding 3,861,339 shares.
• Contour Asset Management LLC nearly doubled its stake with an 85.175% increase.
• Disciplined Growth Investors Inc /Mn established a significant new position of over 6.11 million shares.

This aggressive buying by active funds suggests they are betting on the company's ability to execute on its growth forecasts, which include a projected annual revenue increase of 16%.

The Impact of Institutional Investors on ZETA's Strategy

These large investors play a crucial role, not just in the stock price, but in Zeta Global Holdings Corp.'s corporate strategy. When institutions hold over 50% of the shares, they collectively have the power to influence board decisions, especially on major capital allocation choices or strategic direction. Their presence is a vote of confidence in the management team's vision for the Zeta Marketing Platform (ZMP).

The key impact is twofold:

• Stock Price Sensitivity: The high ownership means the stock price is highly sensitive to large block trades. A sudden, coordinated sell-off by a few major holders could cause a sharp drop, but the current net buying trend provides a strong foundational support for the stock.
• Strategic Validation: The accumulation by active funds like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Disciplined Growth Investors Inc /Mn validates the company's focus on its AI-driven product suite and its path toward profitability. This institutional backing often attracts further analyst coverage and investor interest.

For a deeper dive into the company's underlying financial health, you should check out Breaking Down Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. Anyway, the institutional buying confirms that the market's smart money is seeing a clear opportunity in Zeta Global Holdings Corp.'s growth story.

Key Investors and Their Impact on Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA)

If you're looking at Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA), the first thing to understand is that it's an institutionally-driven stock. As of November 5, 2025, institutional investors-the big funds, pension managers, and endowments-own a commanding 67.31% of the company's shares outstanding. This high concentration means the stock's price movements are defintely sensitive to their collective trading actions, and the board has to be highly attuned to their preferences.

The company's consistent performance, marked by its 17th straight 'Beat and Raise' quarter in Q3 2025, is what keeps these large players invested. Management's execution, particularly their focus on AI-driven growth and a clear path to profitability, is the core thesis for the institutional money. For the full 2025 fiscal year, the company is guiding toward revenue between $1.273 billion and $1.276 billion, with Adjusted EBITDA projected to hit between $273.2 million and $274.1 million. That kind of predictable, profitable growth is catnip to large funds.

The Institutional Heavyweights and Their Recent Moves

The shareholder base is anchored by some of the world's largest asset managers, but it also includes smaller, conviction-driven hedge funds. The largest individual shareholder, however, remains Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO David Steinberg, who held an approximately 11% stake as of early 2025. His significant insider ownership aligns his interests directly with yours, which is a strong signal for long-term investors.

Looking at the 13F filings for the third quarter of 2025 (ending September 30, 2025), we see a fascinating mix of accumulation and profit-taking among the top holders. This table shows the largest positions and their Q3 2025 activity:

Mapping Recent Investor Sentiment to Action

The key takeaway from the Q3 2025 moves isn't the selling by Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock, Inc.; those are often passive index funds adjusting their positions as the stock price rises. The real signal is the aggressive buying by active managers like Disciplined Growth Investors Inc /MN, which established a new position of over 6.1 million shares, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc, which increased its stake by an astonishing 368.5%. This kind of accumulation by active funds shows a high-conviction belief in Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA)'s AI-powered growth story and its ability to consolidate the marketing technology space.

This institutional confidence is the primary driver of the stock's valuation, especially as the company continues to execute on its guidance, which for Q3 2025 included delivering $337 million in revenue and $47 million in free cash flow. The launch of their new AI conversational agent, Athena by Zeta, is a major catalyst that these investors are betting on to drive future customer engagement and revenue per user. If you want a deeper dive into the company's foundation, you can read more about Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

For you as an investor, this means:

• Expect Volatility: High institutional ownership can lead to sharp moves if a few large funds decide to sell simultaneously.
• Focus on Fundamentals: The institutional money is focused on the core metrics: 25-26% year-over-year revenue growth and the expansion of the Adjusted EBITDA margin to over 21% for FY2025.
• Watch the 'Super Scaled' Customers: The number of customers spending over $100,000 annually grew 21% year-over-year in Q2 2025, which is the metric active investors value most for platform stickiness.

Market Impact and Investor Sentiment

The investor sentiment toward Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA) is defintely leaning positive right now, shifting from cautious growth-play to a strong conviction in its AI-driven strategy. The market's optimism is clearly reflected in the high level of institutional commitment, which shows professional money managers are buying into the long-term narrative.

As of late 2025, institutional investors own a commanding stake, holding approximately 87.75% of the company's stock, according to recent filings. That's a huge vote of confidence, and it means the stock price is highly sensitive to the trading actions of giants like Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock, Inc. when they adjust their positions.

Here's a quick look at the largest institutional holders as of the third quarter of 2025:

You can see that Vanguard and BlackRock alone hold a significant chunk. When firms of that scale take a position, they've done their homework on the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (ZETA).

Recent Market Reactions and Ownership Shifts

The stock market has been quick to reward Zeta Global Holdings Corp. for its operational momentum, especially around its AI-powered marketing platform. For instance, following the company's strong third-quarter results and raised guidance, the stock saw a significant jump, gaining nearly 6.63% in a single day in late November 2025. This kind of immediate, sharp reaction tells you the market is paying close attention to execution.

However, it's not all smooth sailing. Earlier in the year, in August 2025, the stock declined by about -7.07% on concerns over strategic missteps and executive turnover, showing that volatility is still a factor in this high-growth space. Big institutional moves can also cause ripples, but they aren't always a warning sign.

For example, when Whetstone Capital Advisors fully exited its position recently, the move was characterized by analysts as portfolio rebalancing-just moving money around-rather than a sign of fundamental concern about the business. It's important to distinguish between a major shareholder selling due to a change in their fund's mandate versus selling because the company's business model is breaking.

Analyst Perspectives: Why the Conviction is High

Wall Street's consensus on Zeta Global Holdings Corp. is a 'Moderate Buy,' which is a strong signal, especially for a growth stock still navigating the path to consistent profitability. The average 12-month price target set by analysts is around $26.18, implying a substantial upside from the current trading price.

The core of this positive outlook rests on the company's proprietary data and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. They're not just talking about AI; they're delivering it, with new products like the Athena conversational AI agent driving client value.

Here's the quick math on why analysts are bullish:

• The consensus FY25 Revenue Forecast was upgraded and now sits between $1.273B-$1.276B.
• Q4 2025 Revenue Guidance is strong, projected between $363M-$366M.
• The company is showing a clear path to profitability, with the Q3 2025 net loss narrowing significantly to only ($3.6M), down from a much larger loss the year prior.

Analysts like Ygal Arounian at Citi Research have initiated coverage with a 'Buy' rating and a $26.00 price target, highlighting a projected 20% revenue Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2024 to 2028. This growth, coupled with expected EBITDA margin expansion, is the engine driving the positive outlook. What this estimate hides, still, is the risk of persistent net losses, which is why you see a few 'Hold' ratings mixed in with the 'Buys.'