Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $33.00. The stock had previously closed at $18.02, but opened at $22.54. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Braze shares last traded at $21.7930, with a volume of 3,536,061 shares changing hands.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Braze to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Braze from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. BTIG Research lowered their price target on shares of Braze from $45.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Braze in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Braze from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Pankaj Malik sold 2,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total value of $48,978.49. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 50,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $857,995.47. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 5,763 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.93, for a total transaction of $97,567.59. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 214,031 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,544.83. This represents a 2.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 60,676 shares of company stock valued at $1,027,661 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 18.20% of the company’s stock.

Braze News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Braze this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management said more brands are adopting Braze’s AI marketing tools and expects adjusted operating profits to increase materially — reinforcing the growth / margin-recovery story. Why Braze Stock Surged Today
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 revenue topped expectations and management authorized a $100M buyback (including a $50M ASR). The combination of top-line beat, buyback, and strong guidance is the primary near-term bullish catalyst. These Analysts Revise Their Forecasts On Braze Following Q4 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators emphasize AI-driven product expansion and strong enterprise demand; several firms reiterated or raised ratings despite mixed target moves — supporting the recovery narrative. BRZE Q4 Deep Dive
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large call-option activity (≈8,070 calls) signals speculative or institutional bullish positioning immediately after the print (short-term demand pressure on the stock).
• Neutral Sentiment: While revenue beat, Braze missed EPS (reported $0.10 vs. ~ $0.115 expected) — a near-term negative for profitability metrics but management attributes margin pressure to growth investments. Q4 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple brokers trimmed price targets (Citigroup, Goldman, UBS, Oppenheimer, Stifel, Mizuho, Piper, others) — signaling cautious/discounted valuations and leaving upside dependent on execution against raised guidance.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Braze

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRZE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Braze by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,455,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,831,000 after purchasing an additional 139,133 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Braze by 412.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 99,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,837,000 after buying an additional 80,285 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Braze during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,273,000. Optimus Prime Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Braze by 15.6% in the third quarter. Optimus Prime Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,780,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,623,000 after buying an additional 240,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rede Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Braze in the third quarter valued at about $864,000. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Braze Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.11 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.51.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 24th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $205.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.23 million. Braze had a negative net margin of 17.78% and a negative return on equity of 19.30%. The business’s revenue was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.12 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Braze, Inc. 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.