Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Makes New Investment in Zscaler, Inc. $ZS

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 183,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,862,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.11% of Zscaler at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ZS. Binnacle Investments Inc bought a new stake in Zscaler in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zscaler in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Zscaler in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Zscaler during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Zscaler during the first quarter worth about $33,000. 46.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ZS shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on Zscaler from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Zscaler in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Zscaler from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Zscaler from $260.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised shares of Zscaler from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Thirty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Zscaler presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.18.

More Zscaler News

Here are the key news stories impacting Zscaler this week:

• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan initiated or reiterated a Buy rating on Zscaler and raised its price target to $215 from $205, suggesting meaningful upside and confidence in the company’s long-term cloud-security growth. Zscaler gets a Buy from J.P. Morgan
• Positive Sentiment: Zscaler participated in Deep Cogito’s $43 million Series A financing for research into self-improving artificial-intelligence models. The investment could strengthen Zscaler’s exposure to enterprise AI, although it is unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings. Deep Cogito raises $43 million Series A
• Positive Sentiment: A broader cybersecurity re-rating has lifted previously lagging stocks, with Zscaler benefiting from increased investor interest in security software and AI-related growth. The move was accompanied by a strong gain in the First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF. Cybersecurity re-rating reaches lagging stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Zscaler is expected to report quarterly results on Thursday. Its prior quarter featured a revenue and adjusted EPS beat, with revenue up 25.4% year over year, but investors will look for sustained billings, guidance, and AI-driven demand before extending the recent rally. Zscaler expected to announce quarterly earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: The broader market may remain sensitive to next week’s August jobs report and its implications for Federal Reserve policy, interest rates, and valuation multiples for high-growth technology stocks. August jobs report takes center stage
• Negative Sentiment: CFO Kevin Rubin sold 503 shares worth approximately $87,210 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sale reduced his holdings by only about 1.2%, making it a limited sentiment concern rather than a fundamental warning. Zscaler CFO sells stock

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,878 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.43, for a total value of $363,865.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 343,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,370,294.34. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Kevin Rubin sold 503 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.38, for a total transaction of $87,210.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,090,375.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,772 shares of company stock worth $2,139,799. Insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Zscaler Stock Performance

Shares of ZS opened at $184.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -383.80, a PEG ratio of 110.24 and a beta of 0.94. Zscaler, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.63 and a 12 month high of $336.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $156.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $850.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $835.14 million. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 2.44% and a negative return on equity of 0.37%. The company’s revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Zscaler, Inc. will post 0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.