Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Gap Down Following Insider Selling

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $44.13, but opened at $41.50. Braze shares last traded at $37.82, with a volume of 607,278 shares.

Specifically, CFO Isabelle Winkles sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.41, for a total value of $195,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 216,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,385,589.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.31, for a total value of $378,983.43. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 206,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,169,068.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRZE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised shares of Braze from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Braze from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Braze from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. BTIG Research cut their target price on Braze from $68.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a report on Friday, June 7th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $60.50.

Braze Stock Down 18.3 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.17. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.53 and a beta of 1.07.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.12. Braze had a negative return on equity of 27.85% and a negative net margin of 25.06%. The company had revenue of $145.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $141.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.30) EPS. Braze’s quarterly revenue was up 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Braze, Inc. will post -1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Braze

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Braze by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,894,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,146,000 after purchasing an additional 148,366 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Braze by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,084,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,357,000 after buying an additional 128,645 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Braze by 537.4% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,527,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,135,000 after buying an additional 1,287,500 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Braze by 1.0% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 780,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,320,000 after acquiring an additional 7,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Braze in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,584,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

Braze Company Profile

Braze, Inc operates a customer engagement platform that provides interactions between consumers and brands worldwide. The company offers Braze software development kits that automatically manage data ingestion and deliver mobile and web notifications, in-application/in-browser interstitial messages, and content cards; REST API that can be used to import or export data or to trigger workflows between Braze and brands' existing technology stacks; Partner Data Integrations, which allow brands to sync user cohorts from partners; Data Transformation, in which brands can programmatically sync and transform user data; and Braze Cloud Data Ingestion that enables brands to harness their customer data.