Inspire Investing LLC Acquires 12,290 Shares of ePlus inc. $PLUS

Key Points

• Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in ePlus inc. by 188.9%, acquiring a total of 18,795 shares valued at approximately $1,355,000.
• ePlus recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.4% and a payout ratio of 22.42%.
• Analysts have upgraded ePlus's rating from a "strong sell" to a "hold" and then to a "buy," indicating positive sentiment towards the stock's future performance.

Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) by 188.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,795 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 12,290 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC owned about 0.07% of ePlus worth $1,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of ePlus by 1.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 139,844 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $8,535,000 after buying an additional 2,392 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of ePlus by 625.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,023 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 882 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of ePlus in the first quarter valued at $968,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of ePlus by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,448,514 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $149,433,000 after buying an additional 11,051 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of ePlus in the first quarter valued at $3,922,000. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on PLUS shares. Zacks Research upgraded ePlus from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded ePlus from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of ePlus in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold".

ePlus Stock Performance

PLUS stock opened at $69.62 on Friday. ePlus inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.83 and a fifty-two week high of $106.98. The business's 50 day moving average price is $71.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.15. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.15.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 26th. ePlus's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.42%.

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.

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