Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Trading 6.4% Higher – What’s Next?

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) traded up 6.4% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $20.97 and last traded at $21.1410. 608,786 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 3,121,196 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Braze from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Braze from $53.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Braze from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Braze in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Braze in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.90.

Braze Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.11 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.80.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last posted 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 company 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 company earned $0.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Braze, Inc. will post -0.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Braze news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 7,391 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total transaction of $125,129.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,692,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,661,355.69. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Astha Malik sold 14,049 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total value of $237,849.57. Following the sale, the insider owned 205,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,475,542.77. The trade was a 6.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,676 shares of company stock worth $1,737,811. 18.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Braze

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Braze by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,885,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,518,000 after acquiring an additional 439,513 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Braze by 1,057.5% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 199,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,705,000 after acquiring an additional 182,074 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Braze during the 1st quarter worth about $2,195,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Braze by 492.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 38,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $905,000 after acquiring an additional 31,856 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Braze by 252.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 167,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,955,000 after buying an additional 120,033 shares during the period. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.