Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Receives "Buy" Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $240.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price indicates a potential upside of 26.33% from the stock's previous close.

ZS has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Zscaler from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Zscaler from $215.00 to $205.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Zscaler from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Zscaler to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Zscaler from $197.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $224.84.

Zscaler Price Performance

Shares of Zscaler stock traded up $2.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.98. 2,211,960 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,526,842. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.15 billion, a PE ratio of -759.92 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $196.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.10. Zscaler has a 1-year low of $153.45 and a 1-year high of $259.61.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $628.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $605.51 million. Zscaler had a negative return on equity of 0.75% and a negative net margin of 1.58%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Zscaler will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,863 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.32, for a total transaction of $573,516.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 358,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,828,542.08. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Remo Canessa sold 3,703 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 transaction of $741,784.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 220,635 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,197,603.20. The trade was a 1.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 10,248 shares of company stock worth $2,052,879. Corporate insiders own 18.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Zscaler

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ZS. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,625,861 shares of the company's stock valued at $277,327,000 after purchasing an additional 60,414 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Zscaler by 28.2% during the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,289,350 shares of the company's stock valued at $220,401,000 after buying an additional 283,540 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Zscaler by 33.8% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 399,516 shares of the company's stock worth $68,293,000 after buying an additional 100,814 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Zscaler by 18.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 394,698 shares of the company's stock worth $75,857,000 after buying an additional 61,037 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Zscaler by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 380,463 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,036,000 after acquiring an additional 37,801 shares in the last quarter. 46.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.