Zuora (NYSE:ZUO) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Zuora, Inc. (NYSE:ZUO - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $9.42, but opened at $10.02. Zuora shares last traded at $9.96, with a volume of 7,995,492 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on ZUO shares. Craig Hallum lowered Zuora from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Zuora in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Zuora in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Zuora has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $11.86.

Zuora Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.19 and a beta of 1.72. The company's 50 day moving average price is $8.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

Zuora (NYSE:ZUO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.09. Zuora had a negative net margin of 10.60% and a negative return on equity of 12.54%. The company had revenue of $115.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $112.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Zuora, Inc. will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Peter Hirsch sold 18,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.06, for a total value of $170,826.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,279 shares in the company, valued at $174,667.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Peter Hirsch sold 18,855 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.06, for a total value of $170,826.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $174,667.74. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Cohen sold 20,773 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.34, for a total transaction of $173,246.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 172,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,434,755.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 221,081 shares of company stock valued at $1,857,391. 8.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zuora

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ZUO. BDF Gestion bought a new position in shares of Zuora during the 2nd quarter worth $3,426,000. Divisar Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Zuora during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,575,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Zuora in the 1st quarter worth approximately $736,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Zuora in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Finally, Scalar Gauge Management LLC raised its holdings in Zuora by 35.4% during the 2nd quarter. Scalar Gauge Management LLC now owns 5,091,272 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,332,343 shares during the period. 83.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zuora Company Profile

Zuora, Inc provides a monetization suite for modern businesses to help companies launch and scale new services and operate dynamic customer-centric business models. The company offers Zuora Billing that allows customers to deploy various pricing and packaging strategies to monetize their recurring revenue streams, bill customers, calculate prorations when subscriptions change, and automate billing and payment operations; Zuora Revenue, a revenue recognition and automation solution that accounting teams use to manage their complex revenue streams; Zuora Payments to provide payment orchestration services for companies looking to operate globally; and Zephr, a digital subscriber experience platform that helps companies orchestrate dynamic experiences that increase conversion, reduce churn, and nurture ongoing subscriber relationships.