Bridge City Capital LLC Boosts Stake in ePlus inc. $PLUS

Bridge City Capital LLC lifted its stake in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) by 21.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 64,078 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,385 shares during the period. ePlus accounts for approximately 1.7% of Bridge City Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Bridge City Capital LLC owned about 0.24% of ePlus worth $5,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ePlus by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,453,215 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $215,147,000 after purchasing an additional 8,146 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of ePlus by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,019,061 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,474,000 after purchasing an additional 8,956 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of ePlus by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,006,035 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $71,439,000 after purchasing an additional 78,160 shares in the last quarter. AltraVue Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of ePlus by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. AltraVue Capital LLC now owns 1,002,883 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $71,215,000 after purchasing an additional 7,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of ePlus by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 471,405 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $33,474,000 after purchasing an additional 39,012 shares in the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at ePlus

In other ePlus news, COO Darren S. Raiguel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.95, for a total transaction of $89,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 55,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,014,532.60. This represents a 1.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,289 shares of company stock worth $115,757. 1.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PLUS shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of ePlus from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ePlus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ePlus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

ePlus Stock Performance

Shares of ePlus stock opened at $83.19 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average of $83.61 and a 200 day moving average of $84.15. ePlus inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.11 and a fifty-two week high of $93.98.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The software maker reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. ePlus had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 11.36%. The business had revenue of $581.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $569.25 million. Analysts forecast that ePlus inc. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

ePlus Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from ePlus’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 17th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. ePlus’s payout ratio is currently 20.66%.

About ePlus

ePlus Inc (NASDAQ:PLUS) is a technology solutions provider that helps enterprises and public-sector organizations maximize the value of their information technology investments. The company specializes in designing, implementing and managing complex IT infrastructures, with a focus on security, cloud computing, data center modernization and unified communications. By combining consulting services with software license management and hardware procurement, ePlus delivers end-to-end solutions that align with its clients’ strategic objectives.

The company’s offerings include cybersecurity assessments and managed security services, hybrid and public cloud deployments, network architecture and optimization, and collaboration platforms.