Irenic Capital Management LP Acquires New Holdings in Couchbase, Inc. $BASE

Key Points

• Irenic Capital Management LP has made a new investment of approximately $26.36 million in Couchbase, Inc., acquiring 1,673,409 shares, which constitutes 4.0% of its investment portfolio.
• Insider selling has been observed, with CEO Matthew M. Cain and SVP Huw Owen selling significant amounts of stock, collectively totaling over $686,000 in value.
• Analysts have downgraded Couchbase's rating from "strong-buy" to "hold," with the average price target set at $23.16.

Irenic Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Couchbase, Inc. (NASDAQ:BASE - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,673,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,356,000. Couchbase accounts for 4.0% of Irenic Capital Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Irenic Capital Management LP owned about 3.10% of Couchbase at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BASE. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in Couchbase by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 30,503 shares of the company's stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 4,010 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Couchbase by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 80,520 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,255,000 after buying an additional 4,918 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Couchbase by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 24,172 shares of the company's stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 1,342 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury purchased a new position in shares of Couchbase during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Couchbase by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 20,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 1,916 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company's stock.

Couchbase Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BASE remained flat at $24.44 during midday trading on Friday. The company had a trading volume of 809,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 860,218. Couchbase, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.78 and a fifty-two week high of $25.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.33 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.67.

Couchbase (NASDAQ:BASE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $57.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.15 million. Couchbase had a negative return on equity of 52.13% and a negative net margin of 34.10%.Couchbase's revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.06) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Couchbase, Inc. will post -1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Couchbase

In other news, CFO William Robert Carey sold 1,321 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $33,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 92,443 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,311,075. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew M. Cain sold 17,669 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.38, for a total value of $430,770.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 829,738 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,229,012.44. This trade represents a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 166,452 shares of company stock valued at $3,978,795 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 14.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on BASE. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Couchbase in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Couchbase from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Couchbase from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler cut Couchbase from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the company from $20.00 to $24.50 in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered Couchbase from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $22.00 to $24.50 in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $23.47.

Couchbase Company Profile

Couchbase, Inc provides cloud database platform for enterprise applications in the United States and internationally. Its database works in multiple configurations, ranging from cloud to multi- or hybrid-cloud to on-premise environments to the edge. The company offers Couchbase Capella, an automated and secure Database-as-a-Service that simplifies database management by deploying, managing, and operating Couchbase Server across cloud environments; and Couchbase Server, a multi-service NoSQL database, which provides SQL-compatible query language and SQL++ that allows for a various array of data manipulation functions.