Bandwidth (NASDAQ:BAND) Trading 7% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Bandwidth shares rose 7% after Citizens JMP lifted its price target from $45 to $70 and kept a market outperform rating. The stock traded as high as $54.95 on lighter-than-usual volume.
• Other analysts also turned more bullish, with Needham raising its target to $60 and Zacks and Wall Street Zen upgrading the stock to strong-buy. MarketBeat data shows the consensus rating is now Moderate Buy with a $43.25 average target.
• Bandwidth recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $0.38 versus $0.32 expected and revenue of $208.78 million above estimates. The company also raised guidance for FY 2026 and Q2 2026, though insider selling has been a recent headwind.

Bandwidth Inc. (NASDAQ:BAND - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 7% during trading on Friday after Citizens Jmp raised their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $70.00. Citizens Jmp currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Bandwidth traded as high as $54.95 and last traded at $55.7490. 361,583 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 570,486 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.10.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Zacks Research raised Bandwidth from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Bandwidth in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Bandwidth from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley Financial upped their price target on shares of Bandwidth from $20.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bandwidth from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Daryl E. Raiford sold 17,026 shares of Bandwidth stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.47, for a total transaction of $263,392.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 52,745 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $815,965.15. The trade was a 24.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Rebecca Bottorff sold 9,425 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.30, for a total transaction of $426,952.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 50,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,289,235.50. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 92,551 shares of company stock valued at $3,324,556 over the last 90 days. 5.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Bandwidth

Here are the key news stories impacting Bandwidth this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP raised its price target on Bandwidth from $45 to $70 and reiterated a market outperform rating, signaling much stronger upside expectations for the stock. Citizens JMP raises BAND price target
• Positive Sentiment: Needham & Company also lifted its price target on Bandwidth from $45 to $60 and kept a buy rating, adding to the day’s bullish analyst momentum. Needham raises BAND price target
• Positive Sentiment: A separate report said Bandwidth’s price target was increased by 86.73% to 46.66, reinforcing the broader theme that analysts are becoming more optimistic about the company’s outlook. Bandwidth price target increased
• Positive Sentiment: Bandwidth’s recent earnings beat and raised guidance continue to support the stock, with the company posting better-than-expected revenue and EPS in its latest quarterly report.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling by COO Devesh Agarwal, including two recent sales totaling 20,000 shares, may create some short-term caution, but the trades were relatively small versus his remaining holdings. Insider selling report

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bandwidth

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Bandwidth by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 40,927 shares of the company's stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 5,324 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Bandwidth during the second quarter worth approximately $128,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Bandwidth by 26.6% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 373,153 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,933,000 after buying an additional 78,360 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Bandwidth by 4.7% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 56,367 shares of the company's stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 2,532 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Bandwidth during the second quarter worth approximately $221,000. Institutional investors own 68.53% of the company's stock.

Bandwidth Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -145.47 and a beta of 2.72.

Bandwidth (NASDAQ:BAND - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.06. Bandwidth had a positive return on equity of 1.47% and a negative net margin of 0.64%.The company had revenue of $208.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.58 million. Bandwidth has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.770-1.830 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.350-0.370 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Bandwidth Inc. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Bandwidth Company Profile

Bandwidth Inc operates a cloud-based communications platform that provides voice, messaging and emergency services APIs for enterprises and developers. Through its proprietary network and software-as-a-service model, the company enables customers to integrate programmable voice calls, text messaging and 9-1-1 routing into their applications. Bandwidth's solutions aim to reduce complexity and improve reliability in mission-critical communications, serving industries such as healthcare, financial services, on-demand mobility and customer engagement.

Founded in 1999 in Raleigh, North Carolina by co-founders David Morken and Henry Kaestner, Bandwidth initially focused on voice-over-IP infrastructure before evolving into a full communications API provider.

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