UBS Group AG Increases Stake in Braze, Inc. $BRZE

UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) by 23.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,576,931 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 297,253 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Braze were worth $54,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Braze by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 21,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $619,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Braze by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Braze by 58.2% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Braze by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 112,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,203,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Braze by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on BRZE. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Braze from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Braze from $43.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Braze from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a report on Friday, April 17th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.90.

Braze Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of BRZE opened at $24.33 on Wednesday. Braze, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.26 and a twelve month high of $37.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.94 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $125,129.63. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,692,933 shares in the company, valued at $28,661,355.69. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 209,424 shares in the company, valued at $4,249,212.96. This represents a 14.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 95,676 shares of company stock valued at $1,737,811 over the last three months. 18.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Braze

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.