ePlus inc. $PLUS Shares Purchased by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in ePlus inc. by 0.5% during Q1, now owning 9.20% of the company, valued at $149.4 million.
• ePlus reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.95, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.87, but fell short of revenue estimates with $498.1 million reported.
• The company declared a $0.25 quarterly dividend to be paid on September 17th, representing an annualized yield of 1.4%.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,448,514 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 11,051 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.20% of ePlus worth $149,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Phocas Financial Corp. lifted its holdings in ePlus by 61.7% during the 1st quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 68,642 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,189,000 after buying an additional 26,203 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in ePlus by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,029 shares of the software maker's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 1,318 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ePlus in the 1st quarter valued at $309,000. Legato Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ePlus by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 89,541 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of ePlus in the 1st quarter valued at $293,000. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ePlus Price Performance

Shares of PLUS traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $71.52. The stock had a trading volume of 140,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 196,422. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $69.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.66. ePlus inc. has a 1-year low of $53.83 and a 1-year high of $106.98. The company has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.14.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Investors 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 yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.