Zscaler Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:ZS)

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 34,160 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 22% compared to the typical volume of 27,921 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Zscaler from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Roth Capital restated a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Zscaler in a report on Saturday, September 5th. FBN Securities restated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Truist Financial set a $210.00 price objective on Zscaler in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright upgraded Zscaler from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Thirty-four research 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.53.

Zscaler Price Performance

Zscaler stock traded up $26.18 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $190.72. 4,711,955 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,376,660. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $150.40. The firm has a market cap of $31.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -487.85, a P/E/G ratio of 20.42 and a beta of 0.95. Zscaler has a 1-year low of $114.63 and a 1-year high of $336.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $898.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $876.96 million. Zscaler had a positive return on equity of 1.23% and a negative net margin of 1.88%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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 forecast that Zscaler will post 0.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Zscaler news, CEO Jagtar 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 343,038 shares in the company, valued at $43,370,294.34. The trade was a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Robert Schlossman sold 3,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.43, for a total transaction of $397,748.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 69,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,769,943.38. This trade represents a 4.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 16,772 shares of company stock worth $2,139,799 over the last quarter. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Zscaler

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ZS. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its stake in Zscaler by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 2,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $770,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 10.9% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 397 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Zscaler by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Zscaler by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 6.1% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

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.