Braze Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:BRZE)

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 12,384 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 678% compared to the average volume of 1,591 call options.

Braze Price Performance

Shares of BRZE traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $33.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,159,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,940,653. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $25.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.29 and a beta of 0.83. Braze has a fifty-two week low of $15.26 and a fifty-two week high of $37.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BRZE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Braze in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Braze in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of Braze in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Braze from $49.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Braze

In other news, insider Astha Malik sold 15,724 shares of Braze stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.57, for a total transaction of $464,958.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 326,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,646,709.81. The trade was a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 42,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.47, for a total value of $1,363,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,143,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,120,320.93. This trade represents a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 203,568 shares of company stock worth $6,096,461. 12.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Braze by 13.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Braze by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 22,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $769,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Braze by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Braze by 3,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 825 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in Braze by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 47,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,620,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.