Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

OKTA has been the topic of a number of other reports. KeyCorp set a $240.00 target price on Okta and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on Okta from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. New Street Research set a $235.00 price target on Okta in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Okta from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $143.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Okta from $190.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.38.

Okta Stock Performance

Okta stock opened at $226.07 on Monday. Okta has a 1 year low of $62.66 and a 1 year high of $235.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $188.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.81.

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $805.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.00 million. Okta’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. Okta has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.900-3.940 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.920-0.940 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Okta will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Brett Tighe sold 41,251 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.44, for a total value of $6,700,812.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 7,693 shares in the company, valued at $1,249,650.92. This represents a 84.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Eric Kelleher sold 6,395 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.58, for a total value of $1,173,994.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 18,668 shares in the company, valued at $3,427,071.44. This represents a 25.52% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 137,766 shares of company stock valued at $23,927,112. Corporate insiders own 4.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Okta during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,546,000. North Dakota State Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Okta by 3.1% during the third quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board now owns 5,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,073,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Okta during the third quarter worth $33,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Okta by 5.5% during the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $662,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montgomery Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Okta during the third quarter valued at $251,000. 86.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Okta

Here are the key news stories impacting Okta this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A channel-partner survey indicated healthier cybersecurity budgets, stable demand, and improving pipeline activity. Okta reportedly showed the strongest quarter-over-quarter pipeline build among the vendors surveyed, supporting optimism about upcoming results. Why Okta Stock Is Up Today
• Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm remains elevated around Okta’s expansion into AI-agent and non-human identity security, areas viewed as increasingly important as companies address vulnerabilities discovered by artificial intelligence. Black October Is Changing How Companies Buy Cybersecurity
• Positive Sentiment: Broader cybersecurity stocks and exchange-traded funds have gained attention as “Black October” cyber incidents and AI-discovered flaws reinforce demand for security software. This industry-wide momentum is providing a favorable backdrop for OKTA. Cybersecurity ETFs in Spotlight
• Neutral Sentiment: Okta’s chief executive, Todd McKinnon, discussed decision-making and competing instincts for company founders. The commentary may support the company’s leadership profile but did not provide a specific financial or operating update. Okta CEO Todd McKinnon Interview
• Negative Sentiment: Quiver data shows significant insider selling over the past six months, including sales by CEO Todd McKinnon and CFO Brett Tighe, with no reported insider purchases. Such activity can temper investor enthusiasm, although it may also reflect routine equity compensation or diversification.
• Negative Sentiment: At its recent trading level, OKTA’s valuation appears demanding relative to several older analyst price targets, creating downside risk if growth or forward guidance fails to accelerate. Wall Street brokerages nevertheless recently characterized the stock as a “Moderate Buy.” Okta Rated Moderate Buy

About Okta

Okta, Inc provides cloud-based identity and access management solutions for organizations worldwide. Its platform helps businesses securely connect employees, contractors, customers and partners with the applications, systems and services they need to use.

The company’s offerings include single sign-on, multifactor authentication, identity governance, lifecycle management, directory services and privileged access management. Okta also provides customer identity solutions through Auth0, its developer-focused identity platform, which supports authentication and authorization for applications and digital experiences.

Okta serves enterprises, government agencies, small and medium-sized businesses, developers and other organizations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and additional international markets.