Arete Research Initiates Coverage on Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA)

Stock analysts at Arete Research initiated coverage on shares of Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a “sell” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Arete Research’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 14.59% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on OKTA. BMO Capital Markets set a $132.00 target price on Okta and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Okta in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $127.00 target price on shares of Okta in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Okta in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Okta from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.44.

Okta Price Performance

NASDAQ:OKTA traded down $1.94 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $97.17. The stock had a trading volume of 909,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,084,082. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Okta has a 52 week low of $70.56 and a 52 week high of $127.57. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $109.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.01 billion, a PE ratio of 154.33, a PEG ratio of 4.79 and a beta of 0.82.

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 27th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.09. Okta had a return on equity of 2.79% and a net margin of 4.85%. The business had revenue of $688.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $680.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Okta will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Okta

In related news, Director Jacques Frederic Kerrest sold 581 shares of Okta stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.29, for a total transaction of $58,268.49. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,021.28. This trade represents a 17.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Larissa Schwartz sold 2,244 shares of Okta stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $224,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 23,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,364,000. The trade was a 8.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,935 shares of company stock valued at $1,100,347. Company insiders own 5.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Okta

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in shares of Okta by 167.4% in the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Okta during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Okta by 152.4% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in shares of Okta in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Okta by 3,507.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.64% of the company’s stock.

Okta Company Profile

Okta, Inc operates as an identity partner in the United States and internationally. The company offers Okta's suite of products and services used to manage and secure identities, such as Single Sign-On that enables users to access applications in the cloud or on-premises from various devices; Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication provides a layer of security for cloud, mobile, web applications, and data; API Access Management enables organizations to secure APIs; Access Gateway enables organizations to extend Workforce Identity Cloud; and Okta Device Access enables end users to securely log in to devices with Okta credentials.