Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Down 6.4% – Should You Sell?

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) shares dropped 6.4% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $18.45 and last traded at $18.7330. Approximately 516,644 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 3,064,169 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.01.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Braze from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Braze from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Braze in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Braze from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Braze currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.30.

Braze Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $22.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a PE ratio of -17.13 and a beta of 1.08.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 9th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. Braze had a negative return on equity of 17.87% and a negative net margin of 16.85%.The company had revenue of $190.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.25 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Braze, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Braze news, CAO Pankaj Malik sold 2,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total value of $48,978.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 50,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $857,995.47. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 7,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total transaction of $125,129.63. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,692,933 shares in the company, valued at $28,661,355.69. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 66,216 shares of company stock worth $1,225,772 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 18.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Braze

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Braze by 3,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Braze by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 97,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,343,000 after purchasing an additional 8,495 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Braze by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 22,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 1,582 shares during the last quarter. Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc. purchased a new stake in Braze in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $331,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in Braze by 212.3% in the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 22,517 shares of the company’s stock worth $772,000 after buying an additional 15,306 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

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.