Zoom Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Zoom Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZM)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $95.00 to $100.00. The stock had previously closed at $73.17, but opened at $75.79. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Zoom Communications shares last traded at $80.01, with a volume of 4,707,973 shares traded.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on ZM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Zoom Communications from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Zoom Communications from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Zoom Communications in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Zoom Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Zoom Communications from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Herbert Raymond Mcmaster sold 500 shares of Zoom Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $37,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $817,575. This trade represents a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Eric S. Yuan sold 33,691 shares of Zoom Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.79, for a total value of $2,519,749.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 87,542 shares of company stock valued at $6,609,623 in the last 90 days. 11.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Zoom Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ZM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Zoom Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,951,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,945,713,000 after buying an additional 154,783 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Zoom Communications by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,538,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $615,237,000 after acquiring an additional 373,509 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Zoom Communications by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,189,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $560,637,000 after acquiring an additional 410,051 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Zoom Communications during the second quarter worth approximately $539,998,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Zoom Communications by 0.6% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,421,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $473,732,000 after buying an additional 36,210 shares during the period. 66.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Zoom Communications Trading Up 12.7%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.95 billion, a PE ratio of 21.76, a P/E/G ratio of 19.15 and a beta of 0.68.

Zoom Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.13. Zoom Communications had a return on equity of 11.95% and a net margin of 24.99%.The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Zoom Communications, Inc. will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

About Zoom Communications

Zoom Video Communications, Inc provides unified communications platform in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers Zoom Meetings that offers HD video, voice, chat, and content sharing through mobile devices, desktops, laptops, telephones, and conference room systems; Zoom Phone, an enterprise cloud phone system; and Zoom Chat enables users to share messages, images, audio files, and content in desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile devices.