Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Reduces Stock Position in Zscaler, Inc. $ZS

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership trimmed its holdings in Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) by 7.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 482,769 shares of the company’s stock after selling 39,626 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Zscaler were worth $144,667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Zscaler by 314.0% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,171,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,932,000 after acquiring an additional 888,888 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Zscaler by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,715,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,363,909,000 after purchasing an additional 824,626 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its holdings in Zscaler by 167.7% during the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 421,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,250,000 after purchasing an additional 263,982 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Zscaler by 131.4% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 461,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,977,000 after purchasing an additional 262,200 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Zscaler by 113.5% in the 2nd quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,535,000 after purchasing an additional 201,267 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ZS. UBS Group decreased their price target on Zscaler from $350.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Loop Capital set a $320.00 target price on shares of Zscaler in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $305.00 target price on shares of Zscaler in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 price target on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Zscaler from $354.00 to $267.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $293.84.

Insider Activity at Zscaler

In other Zscaler news, insider Robert Schlossman sold 2,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.79, for a total value of $546,823.71. Following the transaction, the insider owned 74,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,378,471.87. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James A. Beer sold 653 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.72, for a total transaction of $148,048.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $790,119.20. This trade represents a 15.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 19,350 shares of company stock worth $4,471,509 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Zscaler

Here are the key news stories impacting Zscaler this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Beat on earnings and revenue: Zscaler reported $1.01 GAAP-adjusted EPS and $815.8M revenue, both above consensus, showing 26% revenue growth year-over-year. Zscaler (ZS) Tops Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Strong ARR and cash flow: ARR rose ~25% to $3.36B and operating/free cash flow improved, and the company raised ARR guidance to ~24%, supporting longer-term subscription growth expectations. Zscaler Announces Strong Second-Quarter Fiscal 2026 Results; Raises Fiscal 2026 ARR Guidance to 24%
• Positive Sentiment: Raised profitability guidance: Zscaler issued Q3 and FY‑2026 EPS targets that were above street EPS expectations, indicating management expects improving adjusted profitability. Press Release / Earnings Presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: AI/security momentum: Analysts and commentary highlighted rapid growth in Zscaler’s AI Security initiatives (a new revenue pillar), which could offset SaaS-seat risks over time but remains early-stage for valuation proof. Zscaler’s AI-Powered Security: A Compelling Case For Aggressive Growth Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Wider net loss on higher spending: The company reported a larger GAAP net loss driven by increased sales, marketing and R&D investment in a competitive market — a key reason for the post‑close share decline. Zscaler posts wider quarterly loss on higher spending; shares down 9%
• Negative Sentiment: Lowered revenue outlook / guidance confusion: Some reports and analyst takes flagged a reduced FY revenue outlook or more cautious revenue commentary, which compounded investor concern despite EPS beats. ZScaler Stock Drops After Q2 Earnings, Lowered Revenue Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pushback and downgrades: Following the print, several firms issued cautious takes or price-target cuts, increasing near-term selling pressure. Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Shares Down 8.6% Following Analyst Downgrade

Zscaler Price Performance

Shares of Zscaler stock opened at $167.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. Zscaler, Inc. has a one year low of $141.56 and a one year high of $336.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $200.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $256.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -643.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 317.40 and a beta of 1.02.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 25th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.11. Zscaler had a negative return on equity of 0.12% and a negative net margin of 1.45%.The firm had revenue of $788.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $773.86 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Zscaler, Inc. will post -0.1 EPS for the current year.

Zscaler 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.