ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

ePlus Stock Performance

PLUS traded down $0.39 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.94. The stock had a trading volume of 148,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 196,766. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.62, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.01. ePlus has a twelve month low of $53.53 and a twelve month high of $102.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $90.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.37.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $544.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $555.23 million. ePlus had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 4.98%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ePlus will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at ePlus

In related news, CFO Elaine D. Marion sold 5,000 shares of ePlus stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.19, for a total value of $460,950.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 64,442 shares in the company, valued at $5,940,907.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ePlus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PLUS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in ePlus by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,403,588 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $191,902,000 after buying an additional 27,582 shares in the last quarter. Gobi Capital LLC purchased a new position in ePlus in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,190,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in ePlus by 75.5% during the second 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. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in ePlus by 4,036.0% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 251,430 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $18,525,000 after purchasing an additional 245,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in ePlus during the first quarter worth $15,315,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.80% of the company’s stock.

ePlus Company Profile

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.