ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) COO Darren Raiguel Sells 1,485 Shares of Stock

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) COO Darren Raiguel sold 1,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.52, for a total value of $146,302.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 60,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,986,863.36. The trade was a 2.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

ePlus Trading Down 0.7%

PLUS stock traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $96.44. 180,683 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 254,617. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. ePlus inc. has a 1-year low of $73.08 and a 1-year high of $99.64.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.35. ePlus had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 5.02%. The business had revenue of $667.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.10 million. As a group, research analysts expect that ePlus inc. will post 4.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 24th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 24th. ePlus’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ePlus

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in ePlus in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $337,929,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in ePlus by 3.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,310,378 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $98,604,000 after purchasing an additional 48,158 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in ePlus by 2.5% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 942,826 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $84,864,000 after purchasing an additional 22,741 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in ePlus by 29.4% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 319,166 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $28,857,000 after purchasing an additional 72,511 shares during the period. Finally, Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in ePlus during the second quarter worth $22,888,250. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of ePlus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

About ePlus

ePlus inc. is a technology solutions provider that helps businesses and public-sector organizations plan, acquire, implement and manage information technology. Its offerings include data center and cloud infrastructure, networking, cybersecurity, collaboration tools, software and related professional and managed services. The company also provides financing solutions for technology purchases, including leasing and other equipment financing arrangements. Founded in 1990, ePlus serves customers across the United States and the United Kingdom.