Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Holdings in Okta, Inc. $OKTA

Key Points

• Nomura Asset Management increased its Okta stake by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 247,366 shares valued at about $21.4 million.
• Okta’s stock was up sharply, opening at $139.79 and trading near its 52-week high of $142.35, after previously sitting far below that level.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.91 versus $0.85 expected and revenue of $765 million, up 11.2% year over year; analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus target of $111.86.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA - Free Report) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 247,366 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 12,205 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.14% of Okta worth $21,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of OKTA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Okta by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,803,227 shares of the company's stock worth $1,815,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,977 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Okta by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,261,303 shares of the company's stock worth $281,246,000 after purchasing an additional 57,605 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Okta by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,226,676 shares of the company's stock worth $204,162,000 after purchasing an additional 189,036 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Okta by 113.7% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,067,128 shares of the company's stock worth $172,895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Okta in the 4th quarter worth about $175,193,000. 86.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Okta Stock Up 13.4%

NASDAQ OKTA opened at $139.79 on Tuesday. Okta, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.66 and a 52 week high of $142.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.30, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $81.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.33.

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.06. Okta had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 4.15%. The firm had revenue of $765.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $751.84 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Okta has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.790-3.870 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 0.950-0.970 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Okta, Inc. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Eric Robert Kelleher sold 2,409 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $192,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,237,600. This represents a 13.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director David Schellhase bought 3,712 shares of Okta stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $72.04 per share, with a total value of $267,412.48. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 3,712 shares in the company, valued at $267,412.48. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 70,884 shares of company stock worth $5,625,648 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on OKTA shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Okta from $121.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Okta from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Okta from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Okta from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Okta from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Okta presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.86.

About Okta

Okta, Inc is a publicly traded provider of identity and access management solutions, headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 2009 by Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest, the company completed its initial public offering in April 2017. Under the leadership of McKinnon as chief executive officer and Kerrest as chief operating officer, Okta has grown into a leading vendor in the cybersecurity space, focusing on secure user authentication, single sign-on and lifecycle management for digital identities.

At the core of Okta's offering is the Okta Identity Cloud, a suite of cloud-native services that enable organizations to manage user access across web and mobile applications, on-premises systems and APIs.

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.