Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

Key Points

• Traders bought 29,673 Braze call options on Monday—about 800% above the typical volume of 3,298.
• Braze shares rose 0.8% to $46.15, near their 52-week high. The company beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, with revenue up 26.2% year over year.
• Analysts have a consensus Hold rating and a $43.95 average price target, below the stock’s reported trading price.

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 29,673 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 800% compared to the typical volume of 3,298 call options.

Braze Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of BRZE stock traded up $0.35 on Monday, hitting $46.15. The stock had a trading volume of 2,256,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,484,102. The stock's 50 day moving average is $32.63 and its 200-day moving average is $25.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.81 and a beta of 0.77. Braze has a 52-week low of $15.26 and a 52-week high of $46.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.03. Braze had a negative net margin of 13.55% and a negative return on equity of 16.11%. The firm had revenue of $227.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Braze has set its FY 2027 guidance at 0.640-0.650 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.130-0.140 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Braze will post -0.70 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BRZE. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $47.50 target price on shares of Braze in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Braze from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Braze from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $47.50 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Braze from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Braze from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $45.00 to $47.50 in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $43.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CRO Edward Mcdonnell sold 29,732 shares of Braze stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.38, for a total value of $932,990.16. Following the transaction, the executive owned 409,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,854,189.40. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Astha Malik sold 15,724 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.57, for a total value of $464,958.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 326,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,646,709.81. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 456,869 shares of company stock valued at $18,540,085. 12.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Braze by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,885,577 shares of the company's stock worth $44,518,000 after acquiring an additional 439,513 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Braze in the 1st quarter valued at about $14,294,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of Braze by 36.5% in the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 538,845 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,722,000 after purchasing an additional 144,176 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Braze by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 530,231 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,519,000 after purchasing an additional 102,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Braze by 13.3% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 391,337 shares of the company's stock worth $8,488,000 after purchasing an additional 46,049 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.47% of the company's stock.

Braze Company Profile

Braze, Inc provides a cloud-based customer engagement platform that helps businesses communicate with customers through personalized, interactive experiences. Its software enables companies to use customer data to create and manage campaigns across channels such as email, mobile push notifications, in-app messages, web messaging and SMS.

The Braze platform includes tools for audience segmentation, campaign and customer-journey orchestration, personalization and performance analysis. Businesses use these capabilities to coordinate communications and adapt them based on customer behavior and preferences.

Founded in 2011 as Appboy, the company adopted the Braze name in 2017.

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