ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Hits New 1-Year High at $97.33

Shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $97.33 and last traded at $97.33, with a volume of 20441 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $95.20.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on ePlus from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded ePlus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th.

ePlus Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.11.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.03). ePlus had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 4.98%. The company had revenue of $544.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $555.23 million. On average, analysts forecast that ePlus inc. will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Elaine D. Marion sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.19, for a total transaction of $460,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 64,442 shares in the company, valued at $5,940,907.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ePlus

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ePlus by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,403,588 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $191,902,000 after purchasing an additional 27,582 shares in the last quarter. Gobi Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ePlus during the fourth quarter worth about $49,190,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in ePlus by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 383,864 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $30,648,000 after buying an additional 9,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in ePlus by 4,036.0% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 251,430 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $18,525,000 after buying an additional 245,351 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.