Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Reduces Stake in ePlus inc. $PLUS

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc cut its position in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,254 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 3,550 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in ePlus were worth $739,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of ePlus by 33.6% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 632 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Vista Finance LLC grew its stake in ePlus by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 4,794 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ePlus by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,282 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 6.2% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 4,693 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ePlus by 34.1% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,503 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.80% of the company’s stock.

ePlus Stock Performance

PLUS stock opened at $89.60 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.06. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.14. ePlus inc. has a 1 year low of $53.83 and a 1 year high of $93.37.

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

ePlus Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PLUS shares. Wall Street Zen raised ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Zacks Research upgraded ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

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.