Needham & Company LLC Lowers Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Price Target to $180.00

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) had its price objective decreased by analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $310.00 to $180.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 22.46% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $355.00 price objective on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Zscaler from $334.00 to $320.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Zscaler from $350.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $305.00 price objective on Zscaler in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $320.00 target price on Zscaler in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.37.

Zscaler Stock Performance

Shares of Zscaler stock opened at $146.99 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $255.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. Zscaler has a one year low of $140.56 and a one year high of $336.99. The company has a market cap of $23.44 billion, a PE ratio of -349.98, a P/E/G ratio of 299.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.12. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 2.25% and a positive return on equity of 0.06%. The company had revenue of $815.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $798.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Zscaler will post -0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Zscaler

In other Zscaler news, EVP Raj Judge sold 3,438 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.82, for a total value of $793,559.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 70,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,248,343.08. The trade was a 4.66% 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, insider Adam Geller sold 1,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.79, for a total value of $377,119.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 50,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,762,413.12. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,350 shares of company stock worth $4,471,509. Insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Zscaler

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Zscaler during the 4th quarter worth $2,305,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 92.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 3,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $845,000 after buying an additional 1,808 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Zscaler by 618.0% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 6,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,526,000 after buying an additional 5,840 shares during the period. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Zscaler during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Zscaler by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,469,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $330,555,000 after acquiring an additional 178,692 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

Zscaler News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Zscaler this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat: adjusted EPS $1.01 vs. $0.89 est., revenue $815.8M vs. ~$799M est., and ARR grew ~25% year/year — signals demand momentum. GlobeNewswire: Q2 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management is pitching AI security growth and new initiatives (AI Guard, agentic security, India AI/Cyber center with Airtel) as durable secular drivers that expand TAM beyond seat-based SaaS. CFO Interview Airtel AI Center
• Neutral Sentiment: Management issued updated forward guidance and commentary (Q3 EPS range and FY EPS range were provided), creating mixed signals that markets are parsing. Earnings Highlights
• Neutral Sentiment: Executives (CEO & CFO) gave interviews and the full call transcript is available — useful for investors wanting detail on churn, acquisitions and how AI monetization will scale. Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Wider GAAP loss and higher spending: the company posted a larger net loss driven by increased sales, marketing and R&D, which pressured investor sentiment. Reuters: Wider Loss
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed/uncertain revenue outlook commentary: some outlets reported the company lowered aspects of its revenue outlook, creating confusion and weighing on the stock despite EPS beats. Benzinga: Revenue Guidance Report
• Negative Sentiment: Broad analyst price‑target cuts today from multiple firms (Canaccord, Morgan Stanley, Oppenheimer, Berenberg, Needham, and others) have amplified selling pressure even as many kept “buy/outperform” stances — the cuts compress perception of near‑term upside. MarketScreener: Analyst Cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: investors appear to be focusing on margin/expense trajectory, competitive pressure and near-term revenue clarity rather than the company’s AI growth story — producing the stock decline. Seeking Alpha: Market Reaction

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.