Invesco Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in ePlus inc. $PLUS

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in ePlus inc. by 34.7%, selling 100,738 shares and now holds 189,905 shares, valued at approximately $11.59 million.
• ePlus reported $0.95 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.87, but revenue fell short at $498.11 million against estimates of $523.85 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.4%, with the dividend payout ratio at 22.42%.

Invesco Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) by 34.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 189,905 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 100,738 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.71% of ePlus worth $11,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLUS. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ePlus during the fourth quarter valued at about $127,898,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in ePlus by 532.0% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 85,192 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,294,000 after purchasing an additional 71,712 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in ePlus by 44,179.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 62,434 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,810,000 after purchasing an additional 62,293 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in ePlus by 83.5% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 111,499 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $8,238,000 after purchasing an additional 50,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in ePlus by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 226,724 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $16,751,000 after purchasing an additional 38,317 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.80% of the company's stock.

ePlus Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:PLUS traded down $0.28 on Thursday, reaching $72.28. 44,184 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 203,015. The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.21, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.14. ePlus inc. has a 12 month low of $53.83 and a 12 month high of $106.98. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $69.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.70.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. ePlus's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PLUS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded ePlus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Zacks Research raised ePlus from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, ePlus has a consensus rating of "Hold".

ePlus Profile

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.