ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Upgraded to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• ePlus has been upgraded to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, moving from a previous "hold" rating.
• The company's stock opened at $74.08 and has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion with a PE ratio of 16.61.
• Institutional investors own 93.80% of ePlus stock, indicating strong support from major investment firms.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

Separately, Zacks Research upgraded ePlus from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold".

ePlus Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of ePlus stock traded down $1.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $73.13. 33,148 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 203,406. ePlus has a fifty-two week low of $53.83 and a fifty-two week high of $106.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $70.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.43.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 26th. ePlus's payout ratio is presently 22.42%.

Institutional Trading of ePlus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,448,514 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $149,433,000 after buying an additional 11,051 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,624,923 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $117,157,000 after buying an additional 238,070 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 buying an additional 8,956 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 927,875 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $66,900,000 after buying an additional 62,557 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 921,854 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $66,466,000 after buying an additional 50,964 shares during the period. 93.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ePlus Company Profile

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.