Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) Short Interest Up 42.8% in March

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,910,000 shares, an increase of 42.8% from the March 15th total of 4,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days. Approximately 8.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Braze Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of BRZE opened at $29.21 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.63. Braze has a 12 month low of $27.75 and a 12 month high of $48.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.62 and a beta of 1.13.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 27th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $160.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $155.72 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 24.88% and a negative net margin of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Braze will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Braze in a report on Friday, March 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Braze from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price target on Braze and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Stephens began coverage on Braze in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Braze from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $52.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Braze

In other news, CAO Pankaj Malik sold 2,585 shares of Braze stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.82, for a total value of $105,519.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 52,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,130,763.18. This trade represents a 4.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 4,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.98, for a total value of $129,093.66. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 248,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,713,989.02. This represents a 1.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,937 shares of company stock worth $2,707,581 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 24.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in Braze by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Braze by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 10,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Braze by 168.0% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Braze by 236.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 736 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd boosted its holdings in Braze by 9,188.9% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 836 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 827 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

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.