ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $80.93, but opened at $71.25. ePlus shares last traded at $73.29, with a volume of 23,971 shares traded.

The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.37). ePlus had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 11.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of ePlus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ePlus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of ePlus by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,816 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Haven Private LLC purchased a new stake in ePlus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $555,000. Destination Wealth Management bought a new stake in ePlus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $296,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in ePlus in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,683,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ePlus by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 20,914 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,545,000 after buying an additional 1,971 shares during the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ePlus Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.03, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50-day moving average price is $77.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.73.

About ePlus

ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize their IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; managed services or infrastructure and cloud; and enhanced maintenance support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, cloud hosted and managed, and managed security services; and professional, staff augmentation, cloud consulting, consulting, and security services.