Zscaler Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:ZS)

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 17,246 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 17% compared to the average volume of 14,766 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.28, for a total transaction of $488,490.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 361,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,906,072.96. This represents a 0.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Robert Schlossman sold 1,435 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.70, for a total transaction of $260,739.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 105,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,224,950.20. This represents a 1.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,502 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,651. 18.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Zscaler during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Zscaler in the third quarter valued at $31,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in Zscaler by 18,500.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Zscaler in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in shares of Zscaler by 436.8% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 204 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. 46.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zscaler Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Zscaler stock traded up $5.17 during trading on Thursday, reaching $211.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 809,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,049,382. Zscaler has a 52-week low of $153.45 and a 52-week high of $259.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $191.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.29. The company has a market cap of $32.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -825.44 and a beta of 0.82.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, December 2nd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $628.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $605.51 million. Zscaler had a negative return on equity of 0.80% and a negative net margin of 1.58%. Zscaler’s quarterly revenue was up 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Zscaler will post -0.95 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Zscaler from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Zscaler from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Zscaler in a report on Tuesday. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Zscaler from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target (down previously from $270.00) on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Tuesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.84.

About Zscaler

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.