J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Takes Position in Docusign Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU)

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG has acquired 25,054 shares of Docusign Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU), valued at approximately $2,039,000, reflecting investment interest in the company during the first quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Baker Avenue Asset Management LP and PNC Financial Services Group Inc., significantly increased their stakes in Docusign, indicating strong confidence in the company's future.
• Docusign's CFO and CEO recently sold a combined total of 55,143 shares, resulting in substantial decreases in their respective ownership percentages, suggesting a shift in insider sentiment.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new position in Docusign Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 25,054 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,039,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Docusign by 519.4% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 384 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Docusign in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of Docusign by 153.1% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 453 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its holdings in shares of Docusign by 476.0% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 432 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Docusign by 490.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 472 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. 77.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Teresa Briggs sold 534 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.37, for a total transaction of $39,713.58. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at $654,827.85. This trade represents a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Allan C. Thygesen sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.51, for a total value of $3,100,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 143,983 shares in the company, valued at $11,160,122.33. The trade was a 21.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 78,552 shares of company stock valued at $5,983,631. Insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on DOCU. Wedbush decreased their price objective on shares of Docusign from $100.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Docusign from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $67.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Docusign from $93.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 6th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Docusign in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Docusign from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 9th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Docusign presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $89.77.

Docusign Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of DOCU traded up $1.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $75.14. 1,712,394 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,113,442. The stock has a market cap of $15.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 27.56 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $78.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.38. Docusign Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.78 and a 12 month high of $107.86.

Docusign (NASDAQ:DOCU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $763.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $748.79 million. Docusign had a return on equity of 14.27% and a net margin of 36.50%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Docusign Inc. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Docusign declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, June 5th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Docusign

DocuSign, Inc provides electronic signature solution in the United States and internationally. The company provides e-signature solution that enables sending and signing of agreements on various devices; Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), which automates workflows across the entire agreement process; Document Generation streamlines the process of generating new, custom agreements; and Gen for Salesforce, which allows sales representatives to automatically generate agreements with a few clicks from within Salesforce.