Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $36.70, but opened at $41.46. Braze shares last traded at $39.45, with a volume of 1,874,846 shares.

The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $160.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $155.72 million. Braze had a negative net margin of 20.41% and a negative return on equity of 24.88%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.04) EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Braze in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Braze from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Braze from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Braze and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Braze from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Insider Activity at Braze

In other Braze news, CEO William Magnuson sold 18,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.82, for a total value of $736,801.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 564,766 shares in the company, valued at $23,053,748.12. This represents a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 5,210 shares of Braze stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.82, for a total value of $212,672.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 157,810 shares in the company, valued at $6,441,804.20. This trade represents a 3.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,470 shares of company stock worth $3,841,921 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 24.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Braze

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRZE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Braze by 12.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 509,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,486,000 after buying an additional 57,713 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Braze in the 3rd quarter valued at $673,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Braze in the 4th quarter worth $498,000. Holocene Advisors LP increased its holdings in Braze by 52.7% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 84,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,729,000 after purchasing an additional 29,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Braze by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,497,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,428,000 after purchasing an additional 229,660 shares during the period. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Braze Stock Up 2.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.90 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.98.

About Braze

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.