Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Zscaler Put Options (NASDAQ:ZS)

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 26,504 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 114% compared to the typical daily volume of 12,369 put options.

Zscaler Stock Performance

Zscaler stock traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $229.40. 355,800 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,003,794. The firm has a market cap of $36.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -881.44, a PEG ratio of 4,449.54 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Zscaler has a 12 month low of $164.78 and a 12 month high of $336.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $282.12 and a 200 day moving average of $288.14.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.11. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 1.45% and a negative return on equity of 0.12%. The business had revenue of $788.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $773.86 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. Zscaler’s revenue was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Zscaler has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.780-3.820 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.890-0.900 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Zscaler will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Zscaler

In other news, insider Robert Schlossman sold 7,006 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.57, for a total transaction of $2,140,823.42. Following the sale, the insider owned 76,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,263,655.24. The trade was a 8.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin Rubin sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.82, for a total transaction of $762,398.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 48,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,116,522.02. This trade represents a 6.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 28,903 shares of company stock worth $7,504,284 over the last quarter. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Zscaler

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Binnacle Investments Inc bought a new stake in shares of Zscaler during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zscaler in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Zscaler by 145.7% during the third quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 86 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zscaler in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new position in Zscaler during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 46.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on ZS shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Zscaler from $355.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Capital One Financial set a $320.00 price target on shares of Zscaler and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Zscaler from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Zscaler from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $322.66.

About Zscaler

Zscaler is a cloud security company that delivers a cloud-native platform to protect users, applications and data as organizations move away from traditional, network-centric security architectures. The company focuses on a zero trust approach that assumes no implicit trust for users or devices, providing secure access to the internet, SaaS applications and private applications regardless of where users are located. Zscaler positions its services as an alternative to legacy appliances and site-centric VPNs, aiming to simplify security while enabling modern, distributed workforces.

Key offerings are built around the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, a multi-tenant cloud platform that enforces security and access policies in-line.