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

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $141.50, but opened at $133.79. Zscaler shares last traded at $132.5470, with a volume of 1,532,790 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on ZS shares. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Zscaler from $350.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research cut shares of Zscaler from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Zscaler from $354.00 to $267.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Zscaler in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Loop Capital set a $320.00 target price on Zscaler in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Zscaler currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.13.

Zscaler Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $172.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $239.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $21.43 billion, a PE ratio of -318.07 and a beta of 1.07.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $815.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $798.92 million. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 2.25% and a positive return on equity of 0.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. Zscaler has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.000-1.010 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.990-4.020 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Zscaler, Inc. will post -0.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Zscaler

In other news, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 1,941 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.59, for a total transaction of $303,941.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 345,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,166,986.44. This represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Adam Geller sold 2,094 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.53, for a total value of $321,491.82. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 46,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,208,079.97. This represents a 4.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,783 shares of company stock worth $2,040,536. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Cox Capital Mgt LLC lifted its stake in Zscaler by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cox Capital Mgt LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,671,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in Zscaler by 3.7% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 936 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in Zscaler by 0.7% during the third quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 5,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Goldstream Capital Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Zscaler by 0.3% during the third quarter. Goldstream Capital Management Ltd now owns 12,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,731,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 46.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.