ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

ePlus Price Performance

PLUS stock opened at $98.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $90.49 and a 200-day moving average of $81.48. The company has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. ePlus has a 12-month low of $53.53 and a 12-month high of $102.32.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $544.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $555.23 million. ePlus had a net margin of 4.98% and a return on equity of 12.32%. As a group, equities analysts expect that ePlus will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ePlus news, CFO Elaine D. Marion sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.19, for a total transaction of $460,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 64,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,940,907.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ePlus

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gobi Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ePlus during the fourth quarter valued at $49,190,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in ePlus by 4,036.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 251,430 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $18,525,000 after purchasing an additional 245,351 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ePlus by 75.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 487,069 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $35,887,000 after purchasing an additional 209,511 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of ePlus during the first quarter worth about $15,315,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of ePlus in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,740,000. 93.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ePlus

ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize their IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; managed services or infrastructure and cloud; and enhanced maintenance support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, cloud hosted and managed, and managed security services; and professional, staff augmentation, cloud consulting, consulting, and security services.