Okta Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:OKTA)

Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 16,957 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 52% compared to the typical volume of 11,146 put options.

Okta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OKTA traded down $3.14 during trading on Monday, reaching $71.15. The stock had a trading volume of 887,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,693,830. Okta has a 52 week low of $70.91 and a 52 week high of $127.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $88.12 and its 200 day moving average is $88.51. The stock has a market cap of $12.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.77.

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, December 2nd. The company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.06. Okta had a net margin of 6.87% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The business had revenue of $742.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. Okta’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Okta has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.430-3.440 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.840-0.850 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Okta will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Okta announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, January 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OKTA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Okta from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Okta from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Okta in a report on Friday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Okta from $137.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Okta from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Twenty-five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Okta currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Brett Tighe sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.07, for a total value of $950,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 134,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,775,981.95. This trade represents a 6.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Eric Robert Kelleher sold 2,409 shares of Okta stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.40, for a total value of $203,319.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 11,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $950,850.40. This represents a 17.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 37,245 shares of company stock valued at $3,385,624 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Okta

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of OKTA. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Okta by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Okta by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 505 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Okta by 2.5% in the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 5,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Okta by 6.4% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC increased its holdings in shares of Okta by 2.0% during the third quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 7,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $664,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 86.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Okta Company Profile

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.