DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) Shares Gap Up on Earnings Beat

DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $74.70, but opened at $81.52. DocuSign shares last traded at $86.44, with a volume of 4,122,687 shares traded.

The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $776.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $760.94 million. DocuSign had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 34.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on DocuSign from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on DocuSign from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded DocuSign from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded DocuSign to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of DocuSign in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Blake Jeffrey Grayson sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.90, for a total value of $695,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 77,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,765,251.90. This represents a 9.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert Chatwani sold 14,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.76, for a total value of $1,446,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 73,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,952.64. This represents a 16.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 104,422 shares of company stock valued at $9,665,394. 1.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On DocuSign

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in DocuSign by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of DocuSign by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 797 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Financial Group LTD raised its position in shares of DocuSign by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Synergy Financial Group LTD now owns 4,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of DocuSign by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $975,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its position in shares of DocuSign by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. 77.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

DocuSign Stock Up 14.8 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.37. The firm has a market cap of $17.33 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 6.94 and a beta of 1.02.

About DocuSign

DocuSign, Inc provides electronic signature solution in the United States and internationally. The company provides e-signature solution that enables sending and signing of agreements on various devices; Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), which automates workflows across the entire agreement process; Document Generation streamlines the process of generating new, custom agreements; and Gen for Salesforce, which allows sales representatives to automatically generate agreements with a few clicks from within Salesforce.