Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Shares of Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $36.70, but opened at $41.46. Braze shares last traded at $39.45, with a volume of 1,874,846 shares changing hands.

The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $160.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $155.72 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 24.88% and a negative net margin of 20.41%. The company's revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.04) EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Braze in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Braze from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Braze from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Braze from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Macquarie upped their price objective on Braze from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $53.00.

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Insider Transactions at Braze

In related news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 5,210 shares of Braze stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.82, for a total value of $212,672.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 157,810 shares in the company, valued at $6,441,804.20. The trade was a 3.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 3,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $139,509.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 182,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,288,002.18. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 89,470 shares of company stock worth $3,841,921. Insiders own 24.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRZE. ShawSpring Partners LLC purchased a new position in Braze during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,837,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Braze in the fourth quarter worth $62,639,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Braze by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,464,161 shares of the company's stock valued at $354,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,423 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Braze by 121.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,197,407 shares of the company's stock valued at $92,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Braze in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.47% of the company's stock.

Braze Price Performance

The firm's 50 day moving average price is $39.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.04. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.25 and a beta of 1.17.

About Braze

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.