Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 8,146 Shares of ePlus inc. $PLUS

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,453,215 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,146 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.28% of ePlus worth $215,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of ePlus by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,019,061 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $73,474,000 after acquiring an additional 8,956 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in ePlus by 8.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,006,035 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $71,439,000 after purchasing an additional 78,160 shares during the period. AltraVue Capital LLC boosted its position in ePlus by 0.7% during the third quarter. AltraVue Capital LLC now owns 1,002,883 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $71,215,000 after purchasing an additional 7,460 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in ePlus by 9.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 471,405 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $33,474,000 after purchasing an additional 39,012 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in ePlus by 177.8% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 237,668 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $16,877,000 after purchasing an additional 152,128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.80% of the company’s stock.

ePlus Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:PLUS opened at $90.31 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $79.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.47. ePlus inc. has a twelve month low of $62.11 and a twelve month high of $93.98. The company has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.04.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The software maker reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.44. ePlus had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 5.63%.The firm had revenue of $614.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $529.60 million. Analysts anticipate that ePlus inc. will post 4.74 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ePlus news, COO Darren S. Raiguel sold 311 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.69, for a total value of $27,582.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 57,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,058,611.53. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 716 shares of company stock worth $63,243. 1.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of ePlus from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ePlus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

ePlus Profile

ePlus Inc (NASDAQ:PLUS) is a technology solutions provider that helps enterprises and public-sector organizations maximize the value of their information technology investments. The company specializes in designing, implementing and managing complex IT infrastructures, with a focus on security, cloud computing, data center modernization and unified communications. By combining consulting services with software license management and hardware procurement, ePlus delivers end-to-end solutions that align with its clients’ strategic objectives.

The company’s offerings include cybersecurity assessments and managed security services, hybrid and public cloud deployments, network architecture and optimization, and collaboration platforms.