Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) Stock

Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) had its price target raised by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $68.00 to $86.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 4.08% from the company’s current price.

ZM has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Zoom Video Communications from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Benchmark upped their target price on Zoom Video Communications from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Zoom Video Communications in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective on shares of Zoom Video Communications in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Zoom Video Communications from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.26.

Zoom Video Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ ZM opened at $82.63 on Wednesday. Zoom Video Communications has a one year low of $55.06 and a one year high of $87.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.43 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.44 and a beta of -0.05.

Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Zoom Video Communications had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 19.08%. Zoom Video Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Zoom Video Communications will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Zoom Video Communications news, CFO Kelly Steckelberg sold 5,013 shares of Zoom Video Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.70, for a total transaction of $299,276.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Eric S. Yuan sold 178,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.91, for a total transaction of $13,733,895.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 372,121 shares of company stock worth $27,095,467. 10.78% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zoom Video Communications

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ZM. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Zoom Video Communications by 23.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,444,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $867,906,000 after buying an additional 2,395,396 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Zoom Video Communications by 78.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,731,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,520,987 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Zoom Video Communications by 4.4% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,480,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,188,000 after purchasing an additional 233,241 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Zoom Video Communications by 60.9% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,902,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,855,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Zoom Video Communications by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,365,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,827,000 after purchasing an additional 264,217 shares during the period. 66.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Zoom Video Communications Company Profile

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.