Alliancebernstein L.P. Reduces Position in Braze, Inc. $BRZE

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its holdings in Braze, Inc. by 20.4% in Q1, selling 461,480 shares and owning 1.72% of the company worth $65 million.
• Various institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Vanguard Group Inc., increased their positions in Braze, with institutional ownership now at 90.47%.
• Analysts have mixed views on Braze, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.85, influenced by changes from firms like JPMorgan and Barclays.

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its stake in shares of Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE - Free Report) by 20.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,802,068 shares of the company's stock after selling 461,480 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 1.72% of Braze worth $65,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Braze by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,911,907 shares of the company's stock valued at $321,542,000 after acquiring an additional 447,746 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Braze during the 1st quarter worth approximately $54,644,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Braze during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,988,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Braze by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,403,067 shares of the company's stock worth $50,623,000 after buying an additional 52,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Braze by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,307,700 shares of the company's stock worth $47,182,000 after buying an additional 113,807 shares in the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Braze news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 8,918 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.94, for a total value of $231,332.92. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 205,106 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,320,449.64. This trade represents a 4.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Astha Malik sold 13,049 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.94, for a total value of $338,491.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 236,930 shares in the company, valued at $6,145,964.20. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 75,624 shares of company stock valued at $2,021,306 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 18.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BRZE shares. Macquarie cut their target price on Braze from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Barclays increased their target price on Braze from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Braze in a research note on Friday. Mizuho increased their target price on Braze from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Braze from $48.00 to $43.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $45.10.

Braze Stock Performance

Shares of BRZE traded down $0.99 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $31.31. The stock had a trading volume of 3,022,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,003,327. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.11 and a beta of 1.10. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $27.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.93. Braze, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.91 and a 12-month high of $48.33.

Braze Company Profile

Braze, Inc operates a customer engagement platform that provides interactions between consumers and brands worldwide. The company offers Braze software development kits that automatically manage data ingestion and deliver mobile and web notifications, in-application/in-browser interstitial messages, and content cards; REST API that can be used to import or export data or to trigger workflows between Braze and brands' existing technology stacks; Partner Data Integrations, which allow brands to sync user cohorts from partners; Data Transformation, in which brands can programmatically sync and transform user data; and Braze Cloud Data Ingestion that enables brands to harness their customer data.