ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

ePlus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PLUS opened at $88.95 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $95.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 21.80, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. ePlus has a 1-year low of $53.53 and a 1-year high of $102.99.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $544.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $555.23 million. ePlus had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 4.98%. Research analysts predict that ePlus will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other ePlus news, CFO Elaine D. Marion sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.19, for a total transaction of $460,950.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 64,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,940,907.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ePlus

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smith Group Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in ePlus by 25.1% during the third quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of ePlus by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 102,809 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $10,110,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ePlus by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 14,602 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,919 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC bought a new stake in shares of ePlus in the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Legacy Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in ePlus in the 3rd quarter valued at about $373,000. Institutional investors own 93.80% of the company’s stock.

ePlus Company Profile

ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize their IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; managed services or infrastructure and cloud; and enhanced maintenance support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, cloud hosted and managed, and managed security services; and professional, staff augmentation, cloud consulting, consulting, and security services.