Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Shares Climb 4.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Zscaler shares rose 4.6% to about $201.84 after Weiss Ratings upgraded the stock from “sell (e+)” to “sell (d-),” while trading volume remained 42% below average.
• Analyst sentiment is more favorable overall: 34 analysts rate Zscaler a Buy, six a Hold and two a Sell, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and a $219.28 average price target.
• Zscaler exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.19 in EPS versus $1.09 expected and $898.19 million in revenue versus $876.96 million expected; insiders sold $5.53 million of stock during the last quarter.

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 4.6% on Monday after Weiss Ratings upgraded the stock from a sell (e+) rating to a sell (d-) rating. The company traded as high as $201.76 and last traded at $201.8420. 1,972,972 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 3,396,514 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.05.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on ZS. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Zscaler from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Zscaler from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Zscaler from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Zscaler in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Thirty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $219.28.

Insider Activity at Zscaler

In related news, Director James A. Beer sold 177 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.01, for a total value of $33,985.77. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $773,800.30. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Robert Schlossman sold 5,394 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,078,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 61,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,305,000. This represents a 8.06% 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. Insiders sold a total of 28,656 shares of company stock worth $5,526,076 in the last quarter. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ZS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Zscaler in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Reflection Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Zscaler in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 92.9% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 218 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Zscaler during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new position in shares of Zscaler during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $68,000. 46.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zscaler Stock Up 4.5%

The company has a market cap of $32.88 billion, a PE ratio of -515.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 20.12 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $174.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 1.70.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $898.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $876.96 million. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 1.88% and a positive return on equity of 1.23%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. Zscaler has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.860-4.900 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.150-1.160 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Zscaler, Inc. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zscaler Company Profile

Zscaler, Inc is a cloud-native cybersecurity company that provides security services designed to help organizations connect users, devices, applications and workloads securely over the internet. Its platform is built around a zero-trust security model, which verifies access based on identity, context and policy rather than relying primarily on a traditional corporate network perimeter.

The company's offerings include Zscaler Internet Access, which secures access to internet and software-as-a-service applications, and Zscaler Private Access, which provides secure, policy-based access to private applications without requiring conventional virtual private networks.

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