Royal Bank of Canada Sells 70,551 Shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS)

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its holdings in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) by 16.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 354,952 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 70,551 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 1.32% of ePlus worth $26,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 44.5% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,934 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 2,443 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc grew its stake in ePlus by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 42,606 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,495 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in ePlus by 83.5% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 111,499 shares of the software maker's stock worth $8,238,000 after purchasing an additional 50,732 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in ePlus by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,979 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,107,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in ePlus by 39.7% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 22,773 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,682,000 after purchasing an additional 6,476 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.80% of the company's stock.

ePlus Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:PLUS traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $69.95. The stock had a trading volume of 18,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 211,236. ePlus inc. has a one year low of $53.83 and a one year high of $106.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.84, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $62.47 and a 200 day moving average of $70.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. ePlus had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 4.93%. The company had revenue of $498.11 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $523.85 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised ePlus from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th.

About ePlus

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.