Insider Selling: ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) COO Sells 400 Shares of Stock

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) COO Darren Raiguel sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.05, for a total value of $35,220.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 57,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,049,491.40. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

ePlus Stock Down 2.8%

NASDAQ PLUS traded down $2.44 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $83.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 156,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 157,284. ePlus inc. has a 52 week low of $53.83 and a 52 week high of $93.98. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $88.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.66.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The software maker reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $614.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $529.60 million. ePlus had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 5.63%. On average, equities analysts expect that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 24th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. ePlus’s payout ratio is presently 19.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,453,215 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $215,147,000 after purchasing an additional 8,146 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ePlus by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,624,923 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $117,157,000 after buying an additional 238,070 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in ePlus by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,019,061 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $73,474,000 after buying an additional 8,956 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in ePlus by 8.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,006,035 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $71,439,000 after acquiring an additional 78,160 shares during the period. Finally, AltraVue Capital LLC grew its position in ePlus by 0.7% in the third quarter. AltraVue Capital LLC now owns 1,002,883 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $71,215,000 after acquiring an additional 7,460 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PLUS. Wall Street Zen downgraded ePlus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded ePlus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, ePlus presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.