Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Stake in Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 44,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,868,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Braze by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,464,161 shares of the company's stock worth $354,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,423 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Braze by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,693,357 shares of the company's stock worth $112,798,000 after purchasing an additional 63,000 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Braze by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,309,244 shares of the company's stock worth $96,711,000 after purchasing an additional 500,667 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Braze by 121.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,197,407 shares of the company's stock worth $92,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Braze by 107.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,963,841 shares of the company's stock worth $82,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,007 shares in the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Braze Price Performance

Shares of BRZE traded up $0.55 on Friday, reaching $36.99. 1,534,892 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,261,227. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.45 and a beta of 1.15. Braze, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.45 and a 12 month high of $48.33. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $32.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.01.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 27th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $160.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $155.72 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 24.88% and a negative net margin of 20.41%. Braze's quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Braze, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRZE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Braze from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stephens assumed coverage on Braze in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Braze from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Braze in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Braze from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Braze currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $49.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Braze news, Director Phillip M. Fernandez sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.46, for a total value of $62,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,269 shares in the company, valued at $633,052.74. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Pankaj Malik sold 3,405 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.88, for a total value of $122,171.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,274 shares in the company, valued at $2,485,551.12. This trade represents a 4.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,150 shares of company stock worth $2,540,814 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.20% of the company's stock.

Braze Profile

Braze, Inc operates a customer engagement platform that provides interactions between consumers and brands worldwide. The company offers Braze software development kits that automatically manage data ingestion and deliver mobile and web notifications, in-application/in-browser interstitial messages, and content cards; REST API that can be used to import or export data or to trigger workflows between Braze and brands' existing technology stacks; Partner Data Integrations, which allow brands to sync user cohorts from partners; Data Transformation, in which brands can programmatically sync and transform user data; and Braze Cloud Data Ingestion that enables brands to harness their customer data.