Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $1.87 Million in Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 44,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Braze by 168.0% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its position in shares of Braze by 9,188.9% during the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 827 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Braze by 8,436.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Braze during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Braze in the 4th quarter worth $115,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Braze

In related news, CEO William Magnuson sold 18,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.82, for a total value of $736,801.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 564,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,053,748.12. This represents a 3.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 4,167 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.98, for a total transaction of $129,093.66. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 248,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,713,989.02. This trade represents a 1.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,937 shares of company stock valued at $2,235,381 over the last 90 days. 24.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Braze Stock Up 1.8%

BRZE stock opened at $36.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.27 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.78. Braze, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.45 and a 52 week high of $48.33.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 27th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.07. Braze had a negative return on equity of 24.88% and a negative net margin of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $160.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $155.72 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.04) EPS. Braze’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Braze, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BRZE. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Braze from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Braze from $48.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Braze from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Braze in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Braze from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Braze presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.25.

Braze Company 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.