Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Acquires 98,854 Shares of Braze, Inc. $BRZE

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,233,143 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,854 shares during the quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Braze were worth $42,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Braze in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Braze by 821.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Braze during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in Braze by 58.2% during the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Braze by 34.3% in the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the period. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Braze Stock Up 5.0%

Shares of BRZE opened at $20.87 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $21.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.80. Braze, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.26 and a twelve month high of $37.67. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of -17.11 and a beta of 0.78.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 24th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.04). Braze had a negative net margin of 17.78% and a negative return on equity of 18.75%. The company had revenue of $205.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.12 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Braze, Inc. will post -0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRZE has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Braze from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Braze in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Braze from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Braze in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Braze from $43.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Braze presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Pankaj Malik sold 2,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total transaction of $48,978.49. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 50,679 shares in the company, valued at $857,995.47. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO William Magnuson sold 26,413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total value of $447,172.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 4,491,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,034,289.14. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,676 shares of company stock valued at $1,737,811. 18.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Braze Profile

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.