Aviva PLC Decreases Stake in ePlus inc. $PLUS

Aviva PLC decreased its holdings in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) by 26.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,756 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 2,475 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in ePlus were worth $487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ePlus by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,448,514 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $149,433,000 after purchasing an additional 11,051 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in ePlus by 2.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 509,020 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $31,065,000 after buying an additional 12,372 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in ePlus in the 1st quarter valued at $3,922,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ePlus by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 198,729 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $12,128,000 after acquiring an additional 27,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Phocas Financial Corp. raised its holdings in shares of ePlus by 61.7% during the 1st quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 68,642 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,189,000 after acquiring an additional 26,203 shares during the period. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ePlus Stock Performance

ePlus stock opened at $90.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 20.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.14. ePlus inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.83 and a fifty-two week high of $92.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $74.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.97.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The software maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.58. ePlus had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 5.47%.The business had revenue of $608.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $518.30 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. ePlus’s payout ratio is currently 21.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PLUS shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of ePlus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

ePlus 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.