Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Braze, Inc. $BRZE

Key Points

• Jefferies increased its stake by 412.2% in Q3 to 99,761 shares (about $2.84M), and institutional investors now own roughly 90.47% of Braze's stock.
• Insiders have been net sellers: CEO William Magnuson and CAO Pankaj Malik sold shares on Feb 18, and insiders sold 66,216 shares (~$1.23M) in the past 90 days while still owning 18.20% of the company.
• Analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $44.30 price target vs. the stock trading near $18.69, even as Braze reported 25.5% revenue growth but negative profitability metrics.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE - Free Report) by 412.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,761 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 80,285 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Braze worth $2,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BRZE. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Braze by 173.3% during the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,372 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Braze by 821.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Braze by 58.2% in the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Braze by 35.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,894 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in Braze in the third quarter valued at approximately $119,000. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Braze

In related news, CAO Pankaj Malik sold 2,893 shares of Braze stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total transaction of $48,978.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 50,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $857,995.47. The trade was a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO William Magnuson sold 26,413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total value of $447,172.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 4,491,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,034,289.14. The trade was a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,216 shares of company stock worth $1,225,772. 18.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Braze Trading Down 6.6%

NASDAQ BRZE opened at $18.69 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day moving average is $22.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.99 and a beta of 1.08. Braze, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.26 and a 12-month high of $43.89.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 9th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.06. The firm had revenue of $190.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $198.25 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 17.87% and a negative net margin of 16.85%.Braze's revenue was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Braze, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRZE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Braze from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Braze from $50.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $40.00 target price on Braze in a research report on Monday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.30.

Braze Profile

Braze, Inc is a publicly traded software company NASDAQ: BRZE that offers a customer engagement platform designed to help brands build personalized relationships with their users. Founded in 2011 as Appboy by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman and Mark Ghermezian, the company adopted the Braze name in 2017 to underscore its focus on fostering strong connections between businesses and consumers. Its cloud-based platform consolidates messaging channels including push notifications, in-app messages, email and SMS, enabling companies to deliver timely, context-driven communications at scale.

The core functionality of Braze's platform centers on data-driven segmentation, customer journey orchestration and real-time analytics.

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