Ancora Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 27,650 Zscaler, Inc. $ZS

Key Points

• Ancora Advisors acquired 27,650 Zscaler shares during the second quarter, valued at approximately $3.9 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 46.45% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: 34 analysts rate Zscaler a Buy, six recommend Hold, and one rates it Sell, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and $216.18 price target.
• Zscaler exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.08 in EPS versus the $1.01 estimate and $850.48 million in revenue, up 25.4% year over year. However, the company posted a negative net margin, while insiders have sold shares worth about $2.14 million over the past 90 days.

Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 27,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,903,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Binnacle Investments Inc bought a new position in Zscaler in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Zscaler during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Zscaler during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Zscaler during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Zscaler during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.45% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Zscaler from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $179.00 price target on shares of Zscaler in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Zscaler in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, FBN Securities restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Zscaler currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $216.18.

Zscaler Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ ZS opened at $170.31 on Thursday. Zscaler, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.63 and a 12 month high of $336.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $27.54 billion, a PE ratio of -354.81, a P/E/G ratio of 99.13 and a beta of 0.94.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.07. Zscaler had a negative return on equity of 0.37% and a negative net margin of 2.44%.The firm had revenue of $850.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $835.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Zscaler, Inc. will post 0.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevin Rubin sold 3,000 shares of Zscaler stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.22, for a total transaction of $372,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,901 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,204,942.22. This trade represents a 6.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,878 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.43, for a total transaction of $363,865.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,038 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,370,294.34. This trade represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 16,772 shares of company stock worth $2,139,799 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Zscaler

Here are the key news stories impacting Zscaler this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on Zscaler from $205 to $215 and maintained an “overweight” rating, implying substantial upside from recent trading levels. Benzinga report
• Positive Sentiment: Zscaler participated in Deep Cogito’s $43 million Series A financing. The investment gives Zscaler exposure to a startup developing reinforcement-learning and self-improving AI models, potentially supporting the company’s broader AI and cybersecurity strategy. Deep Cogito funding announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim reaffirmed its “Buy” rating, adding another supportive analyst opinion as investors assess Zscaler’s growth prospects. Guggenheim rating report
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is mixed ahead of earnings. Reports highlight strong AI-driven expectations across cybersecurity stocks, increasing the potential for volatility if Zscaler’s fiscal fourth-quarter results or outlook fall short. Cybersecurity stocks earnings report
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore added Zscaler to its tactical underperform list ahead of the fiscal fourth-quarter report, signaling concern that the stock’s valuation and elevated expectations may limit near-term upside. Evercore tactical underperform report
• Negative Sentiment: CFO Kevin Rubin sold 503 shares worth approximately $87,210 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The transaction was small relative to his remaining holdings and appears more routine than an indication of changing company fundamentals, but it can still attract modest selling scrutiny. SEC insider trading filing

Zscaler Profile

Zscaler is a cloud security company that delivers a cloud-native platform to protect users, applications and data as organizations move away from traditional, network-centric security architectures. The company focuses on a zero trust approach that assumes no implicit trust for users or devices, providing secure access to the internet, SaaS applications and private applications regardless of where users are located. Zscaler positions its services as an alternative to legacy appliances and site-centric VPNs, aiming to simplify security while enabling modern, distributed workforces.

Key offerings are built around the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, a multi-tenant cloud platform that enforces security and access policies in-line.

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