Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Trading 9.7% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) shares traded up 9.7% on Thursday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $36.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Braze traded as high as $33.74 and last traded at $33.7890. 234,729 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 2,940,041 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.81.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Braze from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $34.00 price target on Braze and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Braze from $49.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Braze from $40.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Braze news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.03, for a total transaction of $1,051,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,220,416 shares in the company, valued at $36,649,092.48. This trade represents a 2.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Astha Malik sold 33,656 shares of Braze stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total value of $930,588.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 278,138 shares in the company, valued at $7,690,515.70. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 161,568 shares of company stock valued at $4,732,721 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Braze by 13.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Braze by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 22,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $769,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Braze by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Braze in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in Braze by 3,650.0% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 825 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Braze Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.57. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.28 and a beta of 0.83.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10. Braze had a negative return on equity of 17.52% and a negative net margin of 15.51%.The company had revenue of $211.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Braze, Inc. will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Braze Company Profile

Braze, Inc is a publicly traded software company (NASDAQ: BRZE) that offers a customer engagement platform designed to help brands build personalized relationships with their users. Founded in 2011 as Appboy by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman and Mark Ghermezian, the company adopted the Braze name in 2017 to underscore its focus on fostering strong connections between businesses and consumers. Its cloud-based platform consolidates messaging channels including push notifications, in-app messages, email and SMS, enabling companies to deliver timely, context-driven communications at scale.

The core functionality of Braze’s platform centers on data-driven segmentation, customer journey orchestration and real-time analytics.