ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) COO Darren Raiguel Sells 384 Shares

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) COO Darren Raiguel sold 384 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.18, for a total value of $35,781.12. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 67,652 shares in the company, valued at $6,303,813.36. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

ePlus Stock Performance

Shares of ePlus stock traded up $0.13 on Wednesday, hitting $92.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 347,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 208,117. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.97. ePlus inc. has a 1 year low of $69.25 and a 1 year high of $98.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $89.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.16.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.09. ePlus had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 4.91%.The company had revenue of $649.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $639.95 million. As a group, analysts forecast that ePlus inc. will post 4.86 EPS for the current year.

ePlus Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. ePlus’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.63%.

Institutional Trading of ePlus

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLUS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of ePlus by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,310,378 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $98,604,000 after acquiring an additional 48,158 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 118.2% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 579,047 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $43,573,000 after acquiring an additional 313,674 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ePlus during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,601,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ePlus during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $337,929,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in ePlus in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,679,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on PLUS. Zacks Research raised shares of ePlus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a report on Friday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, ePlus currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

About ePlus

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ: PLUS) is a technology solutions provider that helps organizations design, implement and manage information technology environments. The company provides products and services spanning data center infrastructure, networking, cybersecurity, cloud computing, collaboration and unified communications, and digital transformation. Its offerings include hardware, software, professional services and ongoing managed services.

ePlus works with businesses, government agencies, educational institutions and healthcare organizations.