Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 5,060 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. acquired a new stake in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,060 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Legato Capital Management LLC raised its position in ePlus by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 89,541 shares of the software maker's stock worth $5,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,730 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of ePlus during the first quarter valued at approximately $293,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ePlus by 15.9% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 198,729 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $12,128,000 after purchasing an additional 27,271 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of ePlus by 7.2% during the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 100,493 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,133,000 after purchasing an additional 6,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in ePlus by 9.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,314 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,061,000 after acquiring an additional 8,698 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.80% of the company's stock.

ePlus Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLUS traded up $5.96 on Friday, hitting $69.26. 599,372 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 143,439. ePlus inc. has a 1-year low of $53.83 and a 1-year high of $106.98. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $69.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.14.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS - Get Free Report) last posted 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. ePlus had a net margin of 5.47% and a return on equity of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $498.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $523.85 million. Sell-side analysts predict that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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 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.