Bank of Montreal Can Grows Stock Holdings in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS)

Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) by 45.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,926 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,541 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in ePlus were worth $364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in ePlus by 91.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 342 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 7,469 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in ePlus by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,004 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in ePlus by 256.8% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 421 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in ePlus by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,168 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. 93.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th.

ePlus Stock Performance

ePlus stock opened at $60.90 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $62.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.97. The company has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. ePlus inc. has a 1 year low of $53.83 and a 1 year high of $106.98.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.37). ePlus had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 4.93%. Equities analysts anticipate that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

ePlus Company Profile

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.