Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $309,000 Investment in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired 5,060 shares of ePlus inc., valued at approximately $309,000, as part of its new position in the company during the first quarter.
• Analysts from Wall Street Zen downgraded ePlus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating as of June 27th.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25, which will be paid on September 17th, representing an annualized yield of 1.4%.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,060 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 32,684 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,584,000 after acquiring an additional 5,443 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 126.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 124,251 shares of the software maker's stock worth $9,180,000 after acquiring an additional 69,410 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of ePlus during the 4th quarter worth $288,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 5,588 shares of the software maker's stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 1,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 7,605 shares of the software maker's stock worth $562,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ePlus Price Performance

ePlus stock traded up $2.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $72.19. The company had a trading volume of 60,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 206,369. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $69.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.99. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.14. ePlus inc. has a 12-month low of $53.83 and a 12-month high of $106.98.

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

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.