Shares of Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA – Get Free Report) fell 5.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $165.21 and last traded at $163.7510. Approximately 816,696 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 3,557,050 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.04.
Key Okta News
Here are the key news stories impacting Okta this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Higher price targets reinforce the AI growth story. Needham raised its target to a Street-high $200, citing Okta’s opportunity to secure AI agents and other non-human identities. The company’s AI identity-security strategy is also being highlighted as cybersecurity demand expands. Okta Stock Gets Stunning $200 Price Target Hike on AI Agent Growth
- Positive Sentiment: Analysts are raising earnings expectations. Scotiabank increased its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate for OKTA to $1.91 from $1.74, above the $1.77 consensus forecast, suggesting improving confidence in profitability.
- Positive Sentiment: Recent quarterly results and guidance remain supportive. Okta reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $805 million, up approximately 11% year over year, and EPS of $1.05, exceeding estimates. Remaining performance obligations increased 17%, while management raised its fiscal 2027 outlook. The Permiso Security acquisition also expands Okta’s cloud identity-threat detection capabilities. Okta gains as investors continue to digest strong quarterly results and a higher outlook
- Neutral Sentiment: Industry trends are favorable but competition is intensifying. Growing use of AI agents, passkeys, and digital identity services could expand Okta’s addressable market, but Microsoft and CrowdStrike are also strengthening competing security platforms. OKTA’s AI Security Push Gains Momentum Against CRWD and MSFT
- Negative Sentiment: Valuation and potential profit-taking may be weighing on the stock. After a sharp rally, Okta trades at a high earnings multiple, while QuiverQuant data shows substantially more insider sales than purchases over the past six months. This may be encouraging investors to lock in gains despite the optimistic outlook.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Okta from $141.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Okta from $115.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Okta in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Okta in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on Okta from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Okta currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.92.
Okta Stock Down 5.2%
The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $142.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.77.
Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.09. Okta had a return on equity of 4.50% and a net margin of 9.63%.The firm had revenue of $805.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Okta has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.900-3.940 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.920-0.940 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Okta, Inc. will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Okta
In related news, CFO Brett Tighe sold 65,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.25, for a total value of $7,621,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 119,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,032,480. This represents a 35.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Larissa Schwartz sold 2,463 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $295,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,028,920. This represents a 8.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 140,376 shares of company stock worth $18,477,982 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.61% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKTA. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Okta by 13,755.2% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 36,276,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,949,942,000 after purchasing an additional 36,014,770 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Okta by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,030,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,422,000 after buying an additional 1,326,051 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Okta by 71.9% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,553,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $281,209,000 after buying an additional 1,485,963 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Okta by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,261,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $281,246,000 after purchasing an additional 57,605 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Okta by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,495,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,776,000 after buying an additional 69,653 shares during the period. 86.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Okta Company Profile
Okta, Inc is a publicly traded provider of identity and access management solutions, headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 2009 by Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest, the company completed its initial public offering in April 2017. Under the leadership of McKinnon as chief executive officer and Kerrest as chief operating officer, Okta has grown into a leading vendor in the cybersecurity space, focusing on secure user authentication, single sign-on and lifecycle management for digital identities.
At the core of Okta’s offering is the Okta Identity Cloud, a suite of cloud-native services that enable organizations to manage user access across web and mobile applications, on-premises systems and APIs.
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