Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $22.03, but opened at $23.39. Braze shares last traded at $23.0490, with a volume of 373,085 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BRZE. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Braze from $43.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Braze from $50.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Citigroup cut their price target on Braze from $53.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Braze from $42.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.90.

Braze Trading Up 5.4%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a PE ratio of -19.05 and a beta of 0.89.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 24th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $205.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.23 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 18.75% and a negative net margin of 17.78%.Braze’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.12 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Braze, Inc. will post -0.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Braze

In other Braze news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 7,391 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total transaction of $125,129.63. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 1,692,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,661,355.69. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.29, for a total transaction of $710,150.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 209,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,249,212.96. This represents a 14.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 95,676 shares of company stock worth $1,737,811. Corporate insiders own 18.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Braze

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Braze during the 1st quarter worth about $1,409,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Braze by 18.8% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 10,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 1,665 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC acquired a new position in Braze during the first quarter valued at approximately $248,000. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in Braze by 24.6% during the first quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 9,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 1,822 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Braze by 11.2% in the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,370,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,369,000 after acquiring an additional 137,843 shares in the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.