Stifel Nicolaus Issues Positive Forecast for Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Stock Price

Key Points

• Stifel Nicolaus raised Zscaler’s price target from $175 to $200 and maintained a “Buy” rating, implying approximately 7.5% upside from the referenced share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: 34 analysts rate Zscaler a Buy, six rate it Hold and one rates it Sell, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and $214.08 target price.
• Zscaler exceeded quarterly expectations with $1.08 in adjusted EPS versus $1.01 forecast and revenue of $850.48 million, up 25.4% year over year, although the stock carries a high valuation and insiders have recently sold shares.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus' target price points to a potential upside of 7.49% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on ZS. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $179.00 price objective on shares of Zscaler in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Zscaler from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Evercore set a $155.00 target price on Zscaler and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Zscaler from $250.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $214.08.

Zscaler Stock Performance

Zscaler stock traded up $0.36 on Wednesday, reaching $186.06. 608,772 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,380,536. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Zscaler has a twelve month low of $114.63 and a twelve month high of $336.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $147.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.61. The stock has a market cap of $30.09 billion, a PE ratio of -386.94, a PEG ratio of 66.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 26th. The company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.07. Zscaler had a negative return on equity of 0.37% and a negative net margin of 2.44%.The business had revenue of $850.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $835.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. Zscaler has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.080-1.090 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 4.100-4.110 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Zscaler will post 0.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Zscaler news, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,878 shares of Zscaler stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.43, for a total value of $363,865.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 343,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,370,294.34. The trade was a 0.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Adam Geller sold 2,817 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.60, for a total value of $345,364.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,187,696.40. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 16,269 shares of company stock valued at $2,052,589 over the last three months. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zscaler

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Zscaler by 89.6% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 60,933 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,601,000 after buying an additional 28,792 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Zscaler by 6.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 193,297 shares of the company's stock worth $27,284,000 after acquiring an additional 11,941 shares during the period. Oxbow Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Zscaler in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,939,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP increased its position in Zscaler by 105.5% during the 4th quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 15,773 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 8,099 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Zscaler by 44.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 779,245 shares of the company's stock worth $109,320,000 after purchasing an additional 239,326 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.45% of the company's stock.

More Zscaler News

Here are the key news stories impacting Zscaler this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed its “Overweight” rating and set a $225 price target, implying roughly 22.5% upside from the referenced price. The firm cited potential synergies from Zscaler’s Red Canary acquisition, providing a near-term bullish catalyst. Cantor Fitzgerald rating article
• Positive Sentiment: Zscaler expanded its partnership with Carahsoft to distribute the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange to U.S. small and midsize businesses and mid-market customers. The agreement could broaden Zscaler’s sales reach and create additional growth opportunities beyond large enterprises. Zscaler and Carahsoft partnership article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several Wall Street-focused reports noted that Zscaler carries a consensus-equivalent Buy recommendation. However, the coverage also cautioned that bullish analyst ratings can be overly optimistic and should not be viewed as a standalone investment signal. Zacks analyst ratings article
• Negative Sentiment: A comparison with Okta argued that Okta currently offers steadier growth and a lower valuation, potentially making it more attractive to investors seeking value in cybersecurity. Zscaler’s premium valuation may limit upside unless growth and profitability continue to improve. Zscaler versus Okta comparison

Zscaler Company Profile

Zscaler is a cloud security company that delivers a cloud-native platform to protect users, applications and data as organizations move away from traditional, network-centric security architectures. The company focuses on a zero trust approach that assumes no implicit trust for users or devices, providing secure access to the internet, SaaS applications and private applications regardless of where users are located. Zscaler positions its services as an alternative to legacy appliances and site-centric VPNs, aiming to simplify security while enabling modern, distributed workforces.

Key offerings are built around the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, a multi-tenant cloud platform that enforces security and access policies in-line.

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.

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