Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $35.00 to $34.00. The stock had previously closed at $30.31, but opened at $26.18. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Braze shares last traded at $24.9950, with a volume of 2,010,081 shares changing hands.

BRZE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Braze from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Mizuho set a $52.00 target price on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Braze from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Braze from $27.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (up from $27.00) on shares of Braze in a research report on Wednesday. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Edward Mcdonnell sold 29,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.38, for a total value of $932,990.16. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 409,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,854,189.40. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 42,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.47, for a total value of $1,363,740.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,143,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,120,320.93. This represents a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 203,568 shares of company stock valued at $6,096,461. 12.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Braze

Here are the key news stories impacting Braze this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Braze reported second-quarter revenue of $227.23 million, above the $220.27 million consensus estimate, while adjusted earnings of $0.19 per share exceeded expectations by $0.03. Revenue increased 26.2% year over year. Braze, Inc. Q2 Earnings Summary
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its fiscal 2027 revenue outlook to approximately $910 million-$913 million, representing roughly 23%-24% growth, and cited continued AI product adoption and expansion among larger enterprise customers as growth drivers. Braze: Growth At A Very Reasonable Price, Especially Amid Guidance Boost
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain constructive after the selloff. D.A. Davidson reaffirmed a Buy rating with a $40 price target, while TD Cowen maintained its Buy rating. Stephens, Piper Sandler, BTIG Research, and Citizens JMP also reiterated positive ratings or raised their targets, generally citing Braze’s growth, valuation, and long-term opportunity. Braze Receives a Buy from D.A. Davidson
• Neutral Sentiment: Braze presented at Citi’s 2026 Global TMT Conference, giving investors additional commentary on its strategy and operating outlook, although no major new financial catalyst was identified in the available report. Braze Presents at Citi’s 2026 Global TMT Conference
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter adjusted EPS guidance of $0.13-$0.14 was viewed as too soft, prompting investors to question near-term profitability and causing the stock to fall despite the earnings beat and raised annual outlook. Why Braze’s Guidance Miss May Be a Gift for Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Unusual options activity included 5,672 put contracts, approximately 180% above average put volume, signaling elevated near-term hedging or bearish speculation. The reported short-interest figure of zero shares appears unreliable and provides no meaningful sentiment signal.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Braze by 1,832.1% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,019,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,914,845 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its position in Braze by 592.4% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,105,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801,019 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in Braze by 421.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,279,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,087 shares in the last quarter. Battery Management CORP. lifted its holdings in shares of Braze by 70.2% in the 3rd quarter. Battery Management CORP. now owns 2,425,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,967,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Braze by 238.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,351,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,429,000 after buying an additional 951,674 shares during the period. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Braze Trading Up 2.2%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.63. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.55 and a beta of 0.88.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.03. Braze had a negative return on equity of 16.09% and a negative net margin of 13.55%.The firm had revenue of $227.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.27 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Braze has set its FY 2027 guidance at 0.640-0.650 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.130-0.140 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Braze, Inc. will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Braze

Braze, Inc is a publicly traded software company (NASDAQ: BRZE) that offers a customer engagement platform designed to help brands build personalized relationships with their users. Founded in 2011 as Appboy by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman and Mark Ghermezian, the company adopted the Braze name in 2017 to underscore its focus on fostering strong connections between businesses and consumers. Its cloud-based platform consolidates messaging channels including push notifications, in-app messages, email and SMS, enabling companies to deliver timely, context-driven communications at scale.

The core functionality of Braze’s platform centers on data-driven segmentation, customer journey orchestration and real-time analytics.