Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,230,000 shares, an increase of 38.8% from the April 30th total of 5,210,000 shares. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Jonathan James Addison sold 7,005 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.19, for a total transaction of $708,835.95. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 19,067 shares in the company, valued at $1,929,389.73. The trade was a 26.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric Robert Kelleher sold 5,895 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.75, for a total value of $670,556.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,117,935. This represents a 37.49% 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 worth $2,697,360 over the last 90 days. 5.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Okta

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OKTA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Okta by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,792,886 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,872,167,000 after acquiring an additional 582,956 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Okta by 325.6% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,699,944 shares of the company's stock valued at $389,308,000 after purchasing an additional 2,830,582 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Okta by 35.5% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,583,937 shares of the company's stock valued at $282,414,000 after purchasing an additional 938,509 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Okta during the 4th quarter worth about $234,992,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Okta by 76.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,748,847 shares of the company's stock worth $289,234,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189,222 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OKTA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on Okta from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Okta from $140.00 to $138.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Okta in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Okta from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Okta from $143.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Okta currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $121.59.

Okta Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OKTA traded down $1.42 during trading on Thursday, hitting $104.18. 2,675,980 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,965,243. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $108.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.64. The company has a market cap of $18.09 billion, a PE ratio of -297.66, a P/E/G ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Okta has a 12-month low of $70.56 and a 12-month high of $127.57.

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

Okta Company 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.