Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $175.25, but opened at $168.12. Zscaler shares last traded at $170.9580, with a volume of 418,837 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ZS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Zscaler from $290.00 to $257.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Zscaler from $340.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Zscaler from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Zscaler from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Zscaler from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $261.26.

Zscaler Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $27.73 billion, a PE ratio of -410.55 and a beta of 0.96.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.12. Zscaler had a positive return on equity of 0.06% and a negative net margin of 2.25%.The firm had revenue of $815.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $798.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Zscaler has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.000-1.010 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.990-4.020 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Zscaler, Inc. will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Zscaler

In other Zscaler news, insider Adam Geller sold 2,094 shares of Zscaler stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.53, for a total transaction of $321,491.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 46,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,208,079.97. The trade was a 4.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Raj Judge sold 2,488 shares of Zscaler stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.59, for a total value of $389,595.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 67,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,633,400.54. The trade was a 3.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 12,130 shares of company stock worth $1,892,487 over the last 90 days. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Zscaler by 24.1% in the first quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 809 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Zscaler during the first quarter valued at $33,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Zscaler by 44.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 779,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,320,000 after buying an additional 239,326 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Zscaler by 95.9% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 1,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Zscaler by 47.0% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 541,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,005,000 after buying an additional 173,268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

Zscaler Company Profile

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.