S&CO Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Okta, Inc. $OKTA

Key Points

• S&CO Inc. boosted its Okta stake by 19.5% in the first quarter, adding 11,861 shares to reach 72,779 shares valued at about $5.73 million.
• Okta reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.91 topping estimates and revenue of $765 million above forecasts, while revenue rose 11.2% year over year.
• Analysts remain generally constructive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $120.42, though some recent insider sales and mixed ratings show caution.

S&CO Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA - Free Report) by 19.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,779 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,861 shares during the quarter. S&CO Inc.'s holdings in Okta were worth $5,728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Okta by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,030,090 shares of the company's stock valued at $521,422,000 after buying an additional 1,326,051 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Okta by 71.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,553,091 shares of the company's stock worth $281,209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,485,963 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Okta by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,261,303 shares of the company's stock worth $281,246,000 after acquiring an additional 57,605 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Okta by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,495,389 shares of the company's stock valued at $215,776,000 after purchasing an additional 69,653 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Okta by 28.4% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,490,681 shares of the company's stock valued at $195,844,000 after purchasing an additional 550,328 shares during the period. 86.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Okta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OKTA opened at $149.35 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $118.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.07. Okta, Inc. has a one year low of $62.66 and a one year high of $157.00. The firm has a market cap of $25.96 billion, a PE ratio of 108.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.77.

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $765.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $751.84 million. Okta had a return on equity of 4.15% and a net margin of 8.24%.Okta's quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. Okta has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.790-3.870 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 0.950-0.970 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Okta, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on OKTA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Okta from $103.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Okta from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Okta from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Mizuho lowered Okta from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, HC Wainwright initiated coverage on Okta in a research note on Monday, July 6th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $120.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Shellye L. Archambeau sold 2,500 shares of Okta stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $212,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,192 shares in the company, valued at $781,320. The trade was a 21.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Todd Mckinnon sold 68,936 shares of Okta stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.62, for a total value of $10,107,396.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 38,484 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,642,524.08. The trade was a 64.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 174,224 shares of company stock worth $22,534,353. 4.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Okta Profile

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.

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