ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $80.93, but opened at $71.25. ePlus shares last traded at $73.29, with a volume of 23,971 shares traded.

The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.37). ePlus had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 11.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of ePlus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th.

Institutional Trading of ePlus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of ePlus by 19.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,387,899 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $136,486,000 after acquiring an additional 229,837 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in ePlus by 70.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,117,812 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $109,926,000 after purchasing an additional 463,621 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in ePlus by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,021,341 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $100,439,000 after purchasing an additional 6,241 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in ePlus by 20.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 968,998 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $95,291,000 after purchasing an additional 164,016 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of ePlus by 16.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 731,909 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $71,987,000 after buying an additional 105,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.80% of the company’s stock.

ePlus Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.96.

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.