Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Stock Gets Price Target Bump from Citizens Jmp

Key Points

• Citizens JMP raised Zscaler’s price target to $265 from $210 and maintained a “market outperform” rating, implying 22.23% potential upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: 35 analysts rate the stock Buy, seven Hold and one Sell, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and average price target of $239.41.
• Zscaler exceeded quarterly expectations with adjusted earnings of $1.19 per share and revenue of $898.19 million, up 24.9% year over year; however, analysts cited slowing growth, rising costs and ambitious long-term targets as risks.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by Citizens Jmp from $210.00 to $265.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "market outperform" rating on the stock. Citizens Jmp's price objective points to a potential upside of 22.23% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ZS. BNP Paribas Exane restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Zscaler in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Zscaler from $178.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Zscaler from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Zscaler from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Thirty-five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $239.41.

Zscaler Stock Performance

Shares of ZS stock opened at $216.81 on Friday. Zscaler has a 12 month low of $114.63 and a 12 month high of $336.99. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $184.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.69. The firm has a market cap of $35.35 billion, a PE ratio of -555.92, a P/E/G ratio of 22.25 and a beta of 0.94. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.10. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 1.88% and a positive return on equity of 1.23%. The business had revenue of $898.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $876.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Zscaler has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.860-4.900 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.150-1.160 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Zscaler will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Zscaler

In other news, CEO Jagtar Chaudhry sold 2,852 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.76, for a total transaction of $549,751.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 340,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,574,253.36. This trade represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Adam Geller sold 5,578 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.76, for a total transaction of $1,075,215.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 43,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,395,276.28. This trade represents a 11.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,053 shares of company stock valued at $5,610,165. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zscaler

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zscaler in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Zscaler in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Zscaler by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 153 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Reflection Asset Management bought a new position in Zscaler during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 92.9% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 218 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.45% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Zscaler

Here are the key news stories impacting Zscaler this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continued to raise or reaffirm bullish views following Investor Day. JPMorgan lifted its price target to $245, while RBC, Wedbush, UBS, BNP Paribas Exane and Truist maintained positive ratings; UBS and BNP Paribas Exane set $250 targets. RBC rating article
• Positive Sentiment: The Investor Day highlighted a potential path to more than $8 billion in organic annual recurring revenue by fiscal 2031, driven by AI security, additional customer entry points, cross-selling and expansion beyond Zscaler’s core user-security products. Investor Day analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Amerx initiated coverage with a Buy rating, adding to the favorable analyst sentiment. Zscaler also announced a partnership with IBM and Red Hat to protect private applications during vulnerability windows, potentially expanding its enterprise security opportunity. Amerx coverage article
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor Day reaffirmed fiscal 2027 guidance, easing concerns about recent go-to-market leadership changes. However, Morgan Stanley retained an Equal Weight rating, and BTIG maintained Neutral, indicating that execution and customer growth still need to validate the long-term targets.
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies said Zscaler’s $10 billion fiscal 2031 ARR goal appears ambitious. Analysts also noted slowing growth and rising costs as risks after the stock’s sharp rally. In addition, Pomerantz announced an investigation into potential investor claims, creating a reputational and legal overhang. Jefferies analysis

Zscaler Company Profile

Zscaler, Inc is a cloud-based cybersecurity company that provides security services designed to help organizations connect users, applications, devices and workloads securely. Its platform is built around a zero-trust security model, which verifies access based on identity, context and policy rather than relying primarily on traditional network perimeters.

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

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