Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $1.20 Million in Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 28,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,197,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Braze during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Braze during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $115,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Braze by 39.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 832 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Braze during the 4th quarter worth approximately $165,000. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Braze in the 4th quarter worth approximately $233,000. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Braze

In related news, insider Myles Kleeger sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.43, for a total transaction of $454,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 184,396 shares in the company, valued at $8,377,110.28. The trade was a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO William Magnuson sold 18,050 shares of Braze stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 564,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,053,748.12. This represents a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 90,970 shares of company stock worth $3,904,111. 24.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BRZE shares. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on Braze from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Macquarie lifted their price target on Braze from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 target price on shares of Braze and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Braze currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $53.00.

Braze Trading Down 0.2 %

BRZE opened at $36.30 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.84 and a beta of 1.17. Braze, Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.18 and a 12 month high of $48.33. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.04.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 27th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $160.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $155.72 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 24.88% and a negative net margin of 20.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Braze, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.