Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $873,000 in ePlus inc. $PLUS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 11,600 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $873,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PLUS. Medina Value Partners LLC acquired a new stake in ePlus during the third quarter worth about $2,730,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in ePlus by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 161,166 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $14,134,000 after purchasing an additional 13,369 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in ePlus by 63.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 51,815 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,489,000 after acquiring an additional 20,163 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of ePlus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,511,000. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 74.9% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 69,187 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,068,000 after acquiring an additional 29,631 shares in the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered ePlus from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut ePlus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Insider Transactions at ePlus

In other ePlus news, COO Darren S. Raiguel sold 1,000 shares of ePlus stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.95, for a total value of $89,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 55,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,014,532.60. The trade was a 1.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,289 shares of company stock worth $115,757. Company insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

ePlus Price Performance

NASDAQ PLUS opened at $80.82 on Monday. ePlus inc. has a 1 year low of $62.11 and a 1 year high of $93.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average of $83.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.16.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The software maker reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $581.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $569.25 million. ePlus had a return on equity of 11.36% and a net margin of 5.24%. On average, research analysts expect that ePlus inc. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

ePlus Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. This is a positive change from ePlus’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 17th. ePlus’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.31%.

ePlus Company Profile

ePlus Inc (NASDAQ:PLUS) is a technology solutions provider that helps enterprises and public-sector organizations maximize the value of their information technology investments. The company specializes in designing, implementing and managing complex IT infrastructures, with a focus on security, cloud computing, data center modernization and unified communications. By combining consulting services with software license management and hardware procurement, ePlus delivers end-to-end solutions that align with its clients’ strategic objectives.

The company’s offerings include cybersecurity assessments and managed security services, hybrid and public cloud deployments, network architecture and optimization, and collaboration platforms.