Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $823,000 in Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,821 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $823,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of OKTA. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Okta by 35.5% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,583,937 shares of the company's stock worth $282,414,000 after buying an additional 938,509 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Okta in the fourth quarter worth approximately $234,992,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Okta by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,700,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $212,385,000 after acquiring an additional 135,110 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Okta by 236.8% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,236,942 shares of the company's stock valued at $176,271,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Okta by 2,135.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,914,254 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,845,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828,630 shares during the period. 86.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric Robert Kelleher sold 5,895 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.75, for a total transaction of $670,556.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,828 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,117,935. This trade represents a 37.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Larissa Schwartz sold 11,552 shares of Okta stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.09, for a total value of $1,317,967.68. Following the sale, the insider now owns 22,125 shares in the company, valued at $2,524,241.25. The trade was a 34.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,452 shares of company stock valued at $2,697,360 in the last 90 days. 5.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Okta Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ OKTA opened at $105.08 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.18. Okta, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.56 and a 12 month high of $127.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -300.23, a PEG ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.09. Okta had a negative net margin of 1.54% and a positive return on equity of 0.47%. The company had revenue of $688.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $680.14 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Okta, Inc. will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on OKTA shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Okta in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Okta from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on Okta from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Okta from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Loop Capital began coverage on Okta in a research report on Monday, May 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $121.59.

Okta Profile

Okta, Inc operates as an identity partner in the United States and internationally. The company offers Okta's suite of products and services used to manage and secure identities, such as Single Sign-On that enables users to access applications in the cloud or on-premises from various devices; Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication provides a layer of security for cloud, mobile, web applications, and data; API Access Management enables organizations to secure APIs; Access Gateway enables organizations to extend Workforce Identity Cloud; and Okta Device Access enables end users to securely log in to devices with Okta credentials.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.