Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $89.74 Million Investment in Zscaler, Inc. $ZS

Key Points

• Legal & General Group acquired 635,774 Zscaler shares worth approximately $89.74 million, giving it a 0.39% stake. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 46.45% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with 34 Buy ratings and a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating; the average price target is $216.18, including JPMorgan’s increase to $215.
• Zscaler recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 25.4% year over year, but investors face risks from elevated valuation, upcoming earnings expectations and Evercore’s tactical “underperform” call.

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 635,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,740,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.39% of Zscaler at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ZS. Binnacle Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Zscaler during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Zscaler in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Zscaler in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Zscaler in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Zscaler in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.45% of the company's stock.

Key Zscaler News

Here are the key news stories impacting Zscaler this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A broad cybersecurity-sector re-rating lifted Zscaler and other previously underperforming security stocks. The First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF also advanced strongly, suggesting investors are buying the group rather than focusing only on ZS. Cybersecurity sector re-rating
• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan assigned Zscaler a “buy” or “overweight” view and raised its price target from $205 to $215. The higher target reinforces expectations for additional upside and was a direct bullish catalyst. J.P. Morgan upgrades Zscaler
• Positive Sentiment: Zscaler participated in Deep Cogito’s $43 million Series A financing. The investment provides exposure to a developer of self-improving AI models and supports Zscaler’s broader enterprise-AI positioning, although it is unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings. Deep Cogito financing
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting Zscaler’s quarterly earnings announcement. The company previously exceeded consensus estimates for earnings and revenue, but the upcoming report must validate expectations for continued growth in cloud security and AI-related demand. Zscaler earnings announcement
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore placed Zscaler on its tactical “underperform” list ahead of results, indicating that valuation and elevated growth expectations could create downside risk if the earnings outlook disappoints. Evercore underperform view
• Negative Sentiment: CFO Kevin Rubin sold 503 shares worth approximately $87,210 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sale reduced his holdings by about 1.2% and is a modest negative signal, though the planned nature and small size limit its significance. Zscaler CFO stock sale

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ZS shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Zscaler in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Barclays increased their target price on Zscaler from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho raised their target price on Zscaler from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Zscaler from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $210.00 price target on Zscaler in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirty-four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $216.18.

Zscaler Stock Performance

NASDAQ ZS opened at $187.30 on Friday. Zscaler, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.63 and a 1-year high of $336.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $155.00 and a 200-day moving average of $150.13. 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 firm has a market cap of $30.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -390.20, a PEG ratio of 100.24 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevin Rubin sold 503 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.38, for a total transaction of $87,210.14. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 40,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,090,375.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Robert Schlossman sold 3,146 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.43, for a total value of $397,748.78. Following the sale, the insider owned 69,366 shares in the company, valued at $8,769,943.38. The trade was a 4.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 16,772 shares of company stock valued at $2,139,799. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Zscaler Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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