ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on PLUS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded ePlus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

ePlus Stock Performance

NASDAQ PLUS opened at $88.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $88.18 and a 200-day moving average of $77.17. ePlus has a 52-week low of $53.83 and a 52-week high of $93.98.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The software maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.58. ePlus had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The firm had revenue of $608.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $518.30 million. As a group, analysts predict that ePlus will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. ePlus’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.69%.

Insider Activity at ePlus

In related news, Director John E. Callies sold 560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.03, for a total transaction of $50,416.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 21,428 shares in the company, valued at $1,929,162.84. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of ePlus by 333.0% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 5,361 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 4,123 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in ePlus by 34.1% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,503 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 20.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 45,612 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,784,000 after buying an additional 7,742 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of ePlus by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,666 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $956,000 after buying an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ePlus by 103.1% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 226,399 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $13,817,000 after acquiring an additional 114,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.80% of the company’s stock.

About ePlus

ePlus Inc (NASDAQ:PLUS) is a technology solutions provider that helps enterprises and public-sector organizations maximize the value of their information technology investments. The company specializes in designing, implementing and managing complex IT infrastructures, with a focus on security, cloud computing, data center modernization and unified communications. By combining consulting services with software license management and hardware procurement, ePlus delivers end-to-end solutions that align with its clients’ strategic objectives.

The company’s offerings include cybersecurity assessments and managed security services, hybrid and public cloud deployments, network architecture and optimization, and collaboration platforms.