ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Director Sells $50,416.80 in Stock

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) Director John Callies sold 560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.03, for a total transaction of $50,416.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 21,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,929,162.84. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

ePlus Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ:PLUS opened at $91.75 on Friday. ePlus inc. has a 12 month low of $53.83 and a 12 month high of $93.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $81.54 and its 200 day moving average is $74.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.01.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The software maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $608.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $518.30 million. ePlus had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 5.40%. Research analysts predict that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

ePlus Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PLUS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of 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 report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment 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, ePlus currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ePlus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PLUS. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of ePlus in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in ePlus by 47.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC bought a new position in ePlus in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of ePlus by 361.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 448 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quaker Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ePlus by 200.0% in the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 525 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the period. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.