Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) had its price target upped by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $185.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 14.67% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ZS. Zacks Research raised Zscaler from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Mizuho increased their target price on Zscaler from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Stephens set a $215.00 price target on Zscaler in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Zscaler from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Thirty-five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Zscaler currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.07.

Zscaler Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:ZS opened at $216.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -555.92, a P/E/G ratio of 22.25 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. Zscaler has a 12-month low of $114.63 and a 12-month high of $336.99.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $898.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $876.96 million. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 1.88% and a positive return on equity of 1.23%. Zscaler’s quarterly revenue was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. Zscaler has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.860-4.900 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.150-1.160 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Zscaler will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Zscaler

In related news, CFO Kevin Rubin sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.28, for a total value of $102,388.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 42,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,437,271.04. This trade represents a 1.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jagtar Chaudhry sold 2,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.76, for a total value of $549,751.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 340,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,574,253.36. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 29,053 shares of company stock valued at $5,610,165 in the last three months. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Zscaler

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Zscaler during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,396,028,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Zscaler by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,518,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $493,635,000 after purchasing an additional 935,781 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Zscaler in the 2nd quarter valued at $102,271,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Zscaler by 52.5% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,920,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,285,000 after purchasing an additional 661,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Zscaler in the second quarter worth $89,740,000. 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: At its investor day, Zscaler reaffirmed its fiscal 2027 first-quarter and full-year guidance, helping ease concerns about recent go-to-market leadership changes. Management highlighted AI security, new customer entry points, cross-selling and an ambition to exceed $8 billion in organic annual recurring revenue by fiscal 2031. Zscaler Stock Jumps as AI Drives Demand for Zero Trust Platform
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street largely responded favorably: UBS, Truist, JPMorgan, Needham, Cantor Fitzgerald, Baird, Wedbush and BNP Paribas Exane raised targets, with several maintaining buy or outperform ratings. Targets generally range from $236 to $285, implying additional upside from recent trading levels. Wall Street sees 29% upside for Zscaler
• Positive Sentiment: A new IBM and Red Hat partnership will combine Zscaler’s Autonomous Application Shield with remediation tools to protect private applications during active vulnerability windows, including attacks assisted by AI. The agreement could expand Zscaler’s enterprise reach and reinforce its AI-security growth narrative. Zscaler Unveils New Private App Security Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts see strong long-term potential from AI security, broader product adoption and cross-selling, but Morgan Stanley maintained an equal-weight view and questioned whether client growth will accelerate enough to support the ambitious long-term targets.
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies called Zscaler’s $10 billion fiscal 2031 ARR goal ambitious, while commentary on the stock’s 45% three-month rally cited slowing growth and rising costs as reasons investors may consider taking profits. BTIG retained a neutral rating, and Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation into potential investor claims, adding a legal headline risk. Jefferies on Zscaler’s long-term ARR target

Zscaler Company Profile

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

The company’s offerings include Zscaler Internet Access, which helps secure internet and software-as-a-service access, and Zscaler Private Access, which provides controlled access to private applications without extending an organization’s network to remote users.