Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) Trading 9.9% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Okta shares rose 9.9% after Barclays raised its price target from $93 to $120 and maintained an overweight rating. The stock traded as high as $135.36, well above its prior close of $123.27.
• Several analysts have turned more bullish on Okta, including Raymond James, Needham, Scotiabank, and Arete, contributing to a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average target price of $111.86.
• Okta recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.91 versus $0.85 expected and revenue of $765 million, up 11.2% year over year. The company also noted FY2027 and Q2 2027 guidance, while insider selling and strong institutional ownership were highlighted in the filing.

Shares of Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA - Get Free Report) rose 9.9% during trading on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $93.00 to $120.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Okta traded as high as $135.36 and last traded at $135.49. Approximately 1,464,862 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 3,555,857 shares. The stock had previously closed at $123.27.

OKTA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded Okta from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Okta from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Okta from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Arete Research set a $127.00 price objective on Okta and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Okta from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. One 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Okta has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.86.

Insider Activity

In other Okta news, CRO Jonathan James Addison sold 23,304 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.79, for a total transaction of $1,812,818.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 4,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $339,475.56. The trade was a 84.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Shellye L. Archambeau sold 2,500 shares of the company's 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 owned 9,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $781,320. The trade was a 21.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,884 shares of company stock worth $5,625,648. Company insiders own 4.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Okta by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 540,947 shares of the company's stock worth $42,578,000 after acquiring an additional 35,324 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Okta by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,496,896 shares of the company's stock valued at $117,821,000 after purchasing an additional 6,533 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Okta by 133.4% in the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 12,295 shares of the company's stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 7,028 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council boosted its position in shares of Okta by 11.1% in the first quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 47,783 shares of the company's stock worth $3,761,000 after purchasing an additional 4,777 shares during the period. Finally, IFS Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Okta in the first quarter worth $375,000. 86.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Okta Stock Up 11.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $24.30 billion, a PE ratio of 99.28, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.80. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $79.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.95.

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.06. Okta had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 4.15%. The company had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $751.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. Okta's revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Okta has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.790-3.870 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 0.950-0.970 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Okta, Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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