Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) Short Interest Up 28.3% in April

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 10,509,226 shares, a growth of 28.3% from the March 31st total of 8,189,438 shares. Currently, 7.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,300,786 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Insider Transactions at Zscaler

In other Zscaler news, insider Robert Schlossman sold 2,263 shares of Zscaler stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.59, for a total value of $354,363.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 72,390 shares in the company, valued at $11,335,550.10. The trade was a 3.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Adam Geller sold 2,094 shares of Zscaler stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.53, for a total transaction of $321,491.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 46,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,208,079.97. This trade represents a 4.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,130 shares of company stock valued at $1,892,487. Insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zscaler

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 32,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266 shares during the last quarter. Clare Market Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zscaler in the 1st quarter worth about $4,298,000. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Zscaler by 70.8% during the 1st quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 35,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after buying an additional 14,659 shares in the last quarter. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA acquired a new position in Zscaler during the 1st quarter worth about $625,000. Finally, Howe & Rusling Inc. lifted its position in Zscaler by 32.7% during the 1st quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 27,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,916,000 after buying an additional 6,873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

Zscaler Stock Performance

Zscaler stock traded down $3.33 on Thursday, hitting $131.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 611,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,716,335. The firm has a market cap of $21.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -312.80 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $144.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.13. Zscaler has a one year low of $114.63 and a one year high of $336.99.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $815.75 million for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. 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 analysts anticipate that Zscaler will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Zscaler from $350.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Barclays set a $220.00 target price on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Zscaler from $220.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Zscaler from $265.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Zscaler from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, nine have given 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 an average price target of $265.74.

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.