Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Stock Price Up 5.7% – Here’s What Happened

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS)’s stock price was up 5.7% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $228.00 and last traded at $226.6750. Approximately 434,072 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 3,323,542 shares. The stock had previously closed at $214.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Zscaler from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on Zscaler from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Stephens boosted their price target on Zscaler from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Zscaler from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Zscaler from $214.00 to $254.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Thirty-six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.44.

Zscaler Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $37.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -586.15, a PEG ratio of 20.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average of $193.44 and a 200-day moving average of $161.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $898.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $876.96 million. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 1.88% and a positive return on equity of 1.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. Zscaler has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.860-4.900 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.150-1.160 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Zscaler, Inc. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zscaler

In other Zscaler news, insider Robert Schlossman sold 5,394 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,078,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 61,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,305,000. This trade represents a 8.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Adam Geller sold 23,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.43, for a total transaction of $5,400,851.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,308 shares in the company, valued at $8,635,772.44. This represents a 38.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,053 shares of company stock valued at $11,256,876. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Zscaler

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Zscaler by 89.6% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 60,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,601,000 after purchasing an additional 28,792 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Zscaler by 6.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 193,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,284,000 after buying an additional 11,941 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Zscaler by 44.3% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 779,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,320,000 after buying an additional 239,326 shares during the last quarter. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in Zscaler in the second quarter valued at $11,232,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Zscaler by 12.8% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,137,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,606,000 after buying an additional 129,563 shares during the last quarter. 46.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Zscaler

Zscaler, Inc is a cloud-based cybersecurity company that helps organizations secure access to applications, websites, data and other digital resources. Its platform is designed around a zero-trust security model, which verifies users and devices and enforces security policies before granting access, rather than relying primarily on a traditional corporate network perimeter.

The company’s offerings include Zscaler Internet Access, which provides secure access to internet and software-as-a-service applications, and Zscaler Private Access, which enables secure access to private applications without extending an organization’s network to users.