Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA)

Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 74,704 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 512% compared to the average daily volume of 12,204 call options.

Insider Transactions at Okta

In other news, Director Jacques Frederic Kerrest sold 131,426 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.68, for a total value of $10,603,449.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,862.96. This represents a 98.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Larissa Schwartz sold 2,791 shares of Okta stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total transaction of $199,556.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 22,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,581,937.50. This represents a 11.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 607,215 shares of company stock valued at $46,304,810. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Okta

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of Okta in the 3rd quarter valued at about $969,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Okta by 122.3% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,265,000 after acquiring an additional 9,364 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Okta by 62.5% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 522,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,870,000 after acquiring an additional 200,770 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Okta by 105.8% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 358,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,627,000 after acquiring an additional 184,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Okta by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 118,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,813,000 after buying an additional 8,239 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.64% of the company’s stock.

Okta Stock Up 5.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ OKTA opened at $86.11 on Thursday. Okta has a 52 week low of $70.56 and a 52 week high of $114.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -247.03, a P/E/G ratio of 19.79 and a beta of 1.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on OKTA shares. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Okta from $104.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Okta from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Okta from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Okta from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Okta from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.07.

About Okta

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.