Zacks Research Upgrades Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) to “Strong-Buy”

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on Okta from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Okta from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Capital One Financial set a $171.00 price target on shares of Okta and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Okta from $115.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Okta from $180.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Okta has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.38.

Okta Trading Up 2.8%

NASDAQ:OKTA opened at $226.07 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.81. Okta has a one year low of $62.66 and a one year high of $235.00.

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $805.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.00 million. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. Okta has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.900-3.940 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.920-0.940 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Okta will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Todd McKinnon sold 48,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.48, for a total value of $9,446,080.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 44,029 shares in the company, valued at $8,518,730.92. This trade represents a 52.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Eric Kelleher sold 6,395 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.58, for a total value of $1,173,994.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 18,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,427,071.44. The trade was a 25.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 137,766 shares of company stock worth $23,927,112. Company insiders own 4.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKTA. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Okta by 71.9% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,553,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $281,209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485,963 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Okta by 21.9% during the 1st quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,216,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,468,000 after purchasing an additional 397,507 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Okta by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,496,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,821,000 after purchasing an additional 6,533 shares in the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC increased its stake in Okta by 54.5% during the 1st quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 830,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,370,000 after purchasing an additional 292,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Okta by 114.3% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 746,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,718,000 after buying an additional 397,951 shares during the last quarter. 86.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Okta

Here are the key news stories impacting Okta this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A channel-partner survey indicated healthier cybersecurity budgets, stable demand, and improving pipeline activity. Okta reportedly showed the strongest quarter-over-quarter pipeline build among the vendors surveyed, supporting optimism about upcoming results. Why Okta Stock Is Up Today
• Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm remains elevated around Okta’s expansion into AI-agent and non-human identity security, areas viewed as increasingly important as companies address vulnerabilities discovered by artificial intelligence. Black October Is Changing How Companies Buy Cybersecurity
• Positive Sentiment: Broader cybersecurity stocks and exchange-traded funds have gained attention as “Black October” cyber incidents and AI-discovered flaws reinforce demand for security software. This industry-wide momentum is providing a favorable backdrop for OKTA. Cybersecurity ETFs in Spotlight
• Neutral Sentiment: Okta’s chief executive, Todd McKinnon, discussed decision-making and competing instincts for company founders. The commentary may support the company’s leadership profile but did not provide a specific financial or operating update. Okta CEO Todd McKinnon Interview
• Negative Sentiment: Quiver data shows significant insider selling over the past six months, including sales by CEO Todd McKinnon and CFO Brett Tighe, with no reported insider purchases. Such activity can temper investor enthusiasm, although it may also reflect routine equity compensation or diversification.
• Negative Sentiment: At its recent trading level, OKTA’s valuation appears demanding relative to several older analyst price targets, creating downside risk if growth or forward guidance fails to accelerate. Wall Street brokerages nevertheless recently characterized the stock as a “Moderate Buy.” Okta Rated Moderate Buy

Okta Company Profile

Okta, Inc provides cloud-based identity and access management solutions for organizations worldwide. Its platform helps businesses securely connect employees, contractors, customers and partners with the applications, systems and services they need to use.

The company’s offerings include single sign-on, multifactor authentication, identity governance, lifecycle management, directory services and privileged access management. Okta also provides customer identity solutions through Auth0, its developer-focused identity platform, which supports authentication and authorization for applications and digital experiences.

Okta serves enterprises, government agencies, small and medium-sized businesses, developers and other organizations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and additional international markets.