Vanguard Group Inc. Has $150.92 Million Stake in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,376,006 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 32,353 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 8.83% of ePlus worth $150,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of ePlus by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 10,137 shares of the software maker's stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Zebra Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ePlus by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Zebra Capital Management LLC now owns 11,302 shares of the software maker's stock worth $634,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of ePlus by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 34,469 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in ePlus by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 14,062 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $792,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in ePlus by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 83,613 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $5,311,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at ePlus

In other ePlus news, Director John E. Callies sold 1,308 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.17, for a total transaction of $103,554.36. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,493 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,622,430.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sidoti lowered shares of ePlus from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of ePlus from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th.

ePlus Stock Performance

Shares of PLUS stock traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $76.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 144,249 shares, compared to its average volume of 231,542. The company has a 50 day moving average of $78.18 and a 200 day moving average of $71.83. The stock has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. ePlus inc. has a 12-month low of $41.71 and a 12-month high of $83.57.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.24 by ($0.22). ePlus had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 5.86%. The firm had revenue of $509.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $598.25 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ePlus inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ePlus Company 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 in two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; and professional and managed services, including managed, professional, security solutions, cloud consulting and hosting, staff augmentation, storage-as-a-service, server and desktop support, and project management services.