Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Up 7.4% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) were up 7.4% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $20.85 and last traded at $20.80. Approximately 1,856,116 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 3,126,695 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.36.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Braze from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Braze in a report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Braze from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Braze from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.30.

Braze Stock Up 7.6%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.94 and a beta of 1.08.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 9th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.06. Braze had a negative net margin of 16.85% and a negative return on equity of 17.87%. The company had revenue of $190.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.02 EPS. Braze’s revenue was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Braze has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.420-0.430 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.130-0.140 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Braze, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 7,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total transaction of $125,129.63. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,692,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,661,355.69. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 4,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.03, for a total value of $70,964.01. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 209,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,573,983.92. This trade represents a 1.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 66,216 shares of company stock worth $1,225,772 in the last three months. Company insiders own 18.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Braze

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Braze by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,851,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,793,000 after purchasing an additional 892,635 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Braze by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,687,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,445,000 after buying an additional 261,351 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Braze by 6.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,455,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,831,000 after buying an additional 139,133 shares in the last quarter. Battery Management CORP. lifted its position in shares of Braze by 70.2% in the third quarter. Battery Management CORP. now owns 2,425,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Braze by 28.8% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,320,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,197,000 after acquiring an additional 518,103 shares during the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Braze

Braze, Inc is a publicly traded software company (NASDAQ: BRZE) that offers a customer engagement platform designed to help brands build personalized relationships with their users. Founded in 2011 as Appboy by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman and Mark Ghermezian, the company adopted the Braze name in 2017 to underscore its focus on fostering strong connections between businesses and consumers. Its cloud-based platform consolidates messaging channels including push notifications, in-app messages, email and SMS, enabling companies to deliver timely, context-driven communications at scale.

The core functionality of Braze’s platform centers on data-driven segmentation, customer journey orchestration and real-time analytics.