ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $106.98 and last traded at $99.63, with a volume of 9464 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $89.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut ePlus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday.

ePlus Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 24.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.13.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.03). ePlus had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 4.98%. The business had revenue of $544.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $555.23 million. On average, research analysts predict that ePlus inc. will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at ePlus

In other news, CFO Elaine D. Marion sold 5,000 shares of ePlus stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.19, for a total transaction of $460,950.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 64,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,940,907.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ePlus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLUS. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of ePlus by 203.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 376 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of ePlus by 1,247.7% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 593 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of ePlus during the second quarter worth approximately $66,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of ePlus by 1,236.7% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,056 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 977 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of ePlus by 43.9% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,121 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the period. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.