Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,810,000 shares, an increase of 20.6% from the November 30th total of 3,990,000 shares. Currently, 5.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ZS shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Zscaler in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Zscaler from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $240.00 target price (down previously from $270.00) on shares of Zscaler in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Zscaler in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Zscaler from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.84.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Robert Schlossman sold 4,947 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.22, for a total transaction of $842,078.34. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 107,241 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,254,563.02. This represents a 4.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Syam Nair sold 3,682 shares of Zscaler stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.32, for a total value of $737,578.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 142,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,618,917.12. The trade was a 2.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,630 shares of company stock valued at $3,155,697 over the last ninety days. 18.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Zscaler

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZS. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Zscaler by 8.6% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 832 shares of the company's stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. American Trust raised its stake in shares of Zscaler by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Trust now owns 1,210 shares of the company's stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Zscaler by 4.0% in the third quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. now owns 1,972 shares of the company's stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Zscaler by 5.1% during the second quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,798 shares of the company's stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Cynosure Group LLC raised its position in Zscaler by 4.4% during the third quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the company's stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.45% of the company's stock.

Zscaler Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of ZS traded down $3.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $184.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,256,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,049,341. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -738.24 and a beta of 0.82. The company's 50-day moving average is $196.91 and its 200-day moving average is $187.99. Zscaler has a 52-week low of $153.45 and a 52-week high of $259.61.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 2nd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.14. Zscaler had a negative return on equity of 0.75% and a negative net margin of 1.58%. The firm had revenue of $628.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $605.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Zscaler will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Zscaler Company Profile

Zscaler, Inc operates as a cloud security company worldwide. The company offers Zscaler Internet Access solution that provides users, workloads, IoT, and OT devices secure access to externally managed applications, including software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and internet destinations; and Zscaler Private Access solution, which is designed to provide access to managed applications hosted internally in data centers, and private or public clouds.