ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Stock: Insider Elaine Marion Sells 4,842 Shares

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) CFO Elaine Marion sold 4,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.33, for a total transaction of $466,429.86. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,635,019.47. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

ePlus Trading Up 0.2%

PLUS stock opened at $94.97 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $90.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.53. ePlus inc. has a 12 month low of $70.75 and a 12 month high of $98.14. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.78, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.96.

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

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. ePlus’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PLUS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Zacks Research raised ePlus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ePlus

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLUS. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in ePlus by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 940 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 3,419 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 14,164 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,066,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of ePlus by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 6,944 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of ePlus by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,115 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About ePlus

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ: PLUS) is a technology solutions provider that helps organizations design, implement, and manage information technology environments. The company serves commercial businesses, government agencies, and other institutions with solutions spanning networking, data centers, cloud computing, cybersecurity, collaboration, and digital infrastructure.

Through its technology and professional services businesses, ePlus provides hardware, software, consulting, systems integration, managed services, and IT asset management.