Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Braze Put Options (NASDAQ:BRZE)

Key Points

• Traders purchased 4,118 put options on Braze on Thursday — roughly a 66% increase versus the average daily put volume — indicating elevated bearish bets or hedging activity.
• Company insiders have been selling shares recently: CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 9,789 shares and General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 4,456, with insiders offloading 69,923 shares (~$1.92M) in the last 90 days while still owning 18.20% of the company.
• Analysts hold a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with a $46.95 price target, but BRZE trades around $26.83 after reporting Q results that met EPS ($0.06) but missed revenue expectations and issued FY2026 EPS guidance of 0.420–0.430.

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 4,118 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 66% compared to the average daily volume of 2,485 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Braze

In other news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 9,789 shares of Braze stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.64, for a total transaction of $260,778.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 195,317 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,203,244.88. This trade represents a 4.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 4,456 shares of Braze stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.57, for a total transaction of $122,851.92. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 219,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,059,720.58. This trade represents a 1.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 69,923 shares of company stock worth $1,917,418 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 18.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRZE. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Braze by 173.3% during the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,372 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Braze by 821.1% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Braze in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Braze by 35.7% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,894 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRZE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Braze in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho increased their target price on Braze from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Braze to an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.95.

Braze Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRZE traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $26.83. 504,244 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,696,139. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.59 and a beta of 1.08. Braze has a 1-year low of $23.91 and a 1-year high of $48.33.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, December 9th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.06. The company had revenue of $190.84 million for 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 quarterly revenue was up 25.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.02 earnings per share. Braze has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.420-0.430 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.130-0.140 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Braze will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Braze

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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