ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Shares Gap Up After Dividend Announcement

Key Points

• ePlus shares experienced a notable gap up following a dividend announcement, opening at $68.45 after closing at $63.30.
• The company declared a dividend of $0.25 per share, which will be paid on September 17th, with a yield of 1.4%.
• Analysts have downgraded ePlus from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, impacting investor sentiment in light of the recent stock performance.

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The stock had previously closed at $63.30, but opened at $68.45. ePlus shares last traded at $69.72, with a volume of 72,386 shares changing hands.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ePlus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th.

ePlus Trading Up 3.4%

The company's fifty day moving average is $69.61 and its 200 day moving average is $66.99. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.14.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $498.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $523.85 million. ePlus had a net margin of 5.47% and a return on equity of 11.03%. Equities research analysts predict that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ePlus by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 139,844 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $8,535,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in ePlus by 625.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,023 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in ePlus in the 1st quarter valued at $968,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in ePlus by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 71,660 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,294,000 after purchasing an additional 11,193 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in ePlus by 126.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 124,251 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $9,180,000 after purchasing an additional 69,410 shares during the period. 93.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About ePlus

ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize their IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; managed services or infrastructure and cloud; and enhanced maintenance support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, cloud hosted and managed, and managed security services; and professional, staff augmentation, cloud consulting, consulting, and security services.