Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Shares Gap Up to $172.96

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $172.96, but opened at $178.36. Zscaler shares last traded at $175.73, with a volume of 260,207 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ZS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Zscaler from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Zscaler from $259.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Zscaler from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.24.

Zscaler Stock Down 2.2 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $206.08 and its 200-day moving average is $202.66.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $525.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $507.56 million. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 7.32% and a negative return on equity of 14.60%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Zscaler, Inc. will post -0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,115 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.15, for a total value of $408,512.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 367,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,915,408.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Remo Canessa sold 7,707 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.15, for a total transaction of $1,488,607.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 255,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,435,390.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,115 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.15, for a total transaction of $408,512.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 367,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,915,408.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 26,715 shares of company stock valued at $5,865,882. 19.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zscaler

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ZS. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new stake in shares of Zscaler in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Zscaler in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 582.6% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Zscaler in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Zscaler by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

About Zscaler

Zscaler, Inc operates as a cloud security company worldwide. The company offers Zscaler Internet Access solution that provides users, workloads, IoT, and OT devices secure access to externally managed applications, including software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and internet destinations; and Zscaler Private Access solution, which is designed to provide access to managed applications hosted internally in data centers, and private or public clouds.