Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Stock

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at Citigroup from $245.00 to $260.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 19.50% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently commented on ZS. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Zscaler in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Zscaler from $178.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Zscaler from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Zscaler from $215.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Zscaler from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Thirty-five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Zscaler has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.78.

Zscaler Stock Performance

NASDAQ ZS traded down $3.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $217.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,332,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,354,314. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $190.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $159.06. Zscaler has a twelve month low of $114.63 and a twelve month high of $336.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market cap of $35.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -557.74, a P/E/G ratio of 21.97 and a beta of 0.94.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.10. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 1.88% and a positive return on equity of 1.23%. The business had revenue of $898.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $876.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Zscaler has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.860-4.900 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.150-1.160 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Zscaler will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Zscaler news, insider Adam Geller sold 23,958 shares of Zscaler stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.43, for a total value of $5,400,851.94. Following the sale, the insider owned 38,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,635,772.44. The trade was a 38.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jagtar Chaudhry sold 2,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.76, for a total value of $549,751.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 340,186 shares in the company, valued at $65,574,253.36. The trade was a 0.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,053 shares of company stock valued at $11,256,876. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ZS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Zscaler by 1.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 196,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,086,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Zscaler during the 3rd quarter worth $643,000. Mainsail Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zscaler during the 3rd quarter worth $249,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Zscaler by 2,466.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 154 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Triumph Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Zscaler by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 923 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

About Zscaler

Zscaler, Inc is a cloud-based cybersecurity company that provides security services designed to help organizations connect users, applications, devices and workloads securely. Its platform is built around a zero-trust security model, which verifies access based on identity, context and policy rather than relying primarily on traditional network perimeters.

The company’s offerings include Zscaler Internet Access, which helps secure internet and software-as-a-service access, and Zscaler Private Access, which provides controlled access to private applications without extending an organization’s network to remote users.