The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Grows Holdings in Braze, Inc. $BRZE

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Braze, Inc. by 13.7%, owning approximately 0.89% of the company, valued at $33.6 million.
• In the latest quarter, insiders sold a total of 72,354 shares of Braze stock, worth nearly $1.9 million, indicating a decrease in their holdings.
• Analysts have issued mixed assessments of Braze, with target prices ranging from $35.00 to $68.00 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 931,405 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 112,360 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.89% of Braze worth $33,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Braze by 1.4% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,314 shares of the company's stock valued at $769,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Braze by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,340 shares of the company's stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Braze by 168.0% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 646 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Braze by 15.3% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,386 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Braze by 236.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 736 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William Magnuson sold 24,325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.94, for a total value of $630,990.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 721,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,714,257.36. This trade represents a 3.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 8,918 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.94, for a total transaction of $231,332.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 205,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,320,449.64. This represents a 4.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 72,354 shares of company stock worth $1,914,998. 18.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Braze Trading Up 13.6%

Shares of BRZE traded up $3.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $31.42. The company had a trading volume of 10,815,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,379,870. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.21 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.11. Braze, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.91 and a fifty-two week high of $48.33.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $162.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.60 million. Braze had a negative net margin of 16.62% and a negative return on equity of 19.21%. Braze's revenue for the quarter was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.05) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Braze, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Braze in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Braze from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Braze from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Braze from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Braze from $75.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.85.

Braze 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.