Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Braze, Inc. $BRZE

Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 30,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $671,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Braze by 1,832.1% in 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 buying an additional 1,914,845 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Braze by 592.4% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,105,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,801,019 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Braze by 421.1% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,279,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,394,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,087 shares in the last quarter. Battery Management CORP. raised its position 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 valued at $68,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position 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 valued at $38,429,000 after purchasing an additional 951,674 shares during the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRZE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Braze in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (up from $27.00) on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Braze from $27.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Braze from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.21.

Key Stories Impacting Braze

Here are the key news stories impacting Braze this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Braze reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.19 per share, above the $0.16 consensus estimate, while revenue increased 26.2% year over year to $227.2 million, exceeding expectations of $220.3 million. Management also cited record second-quarter free cash flow and improving operating leverage. Braze Reports Strong Fiscal Second Quarter 2027 Results
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to $910 million-$913 million, compared with the $898.4 million analyst consensus, and lifted adjusted EPS guidance to $0.64-$0.65 versus expectations of $0.35. Third-quarter revenue and EPS guidance also exceeded consensus estimates. Braze stock falls after Q2 beat, guidance raise
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain constructive: DA Davidson reaffirmed a Buy rating with a $40 target, while Stephens, Piper Sandler, BTIG Research and Citizens JMP maintained positive ratings and targets ranging from $30 to $35. JPMorgan retained an Overweight rating despite trimming its target to $34.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor commentary highlighted continued AI product adoption, expansion among larger enterprise customers and potential benefits from vendor consolidation. However, competition and changing customer priorities remain important risks for the customer-engagement software market. BRZE Q2 Deep Dive
• Negative Sentiment: The earnings beat and guidance increase were overshadowed by concerns that projected third-quarter profit growth was weaker than investors expected. The selloff suggests the market was positioned for an even stronger outlook, with some investors also focused on ongoing losses, valuation sensitivity and competitive pressure. Braze Stock Plummets After Disappointing Profit Outlook

Braze Stock Down 21.7%

Shares of BRZE stock opened at $23.73 on Thursday. Braze, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.26 and a 52-week high of $37.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of -23.04 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.58.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Astha Malik sold 33,656 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total transaction of $930,588.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 278,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,690,515.70. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CRO Edward Mcdonnell sold 29,732 shares of Braze stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.38, for a total transaction of $932,990.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 409,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,854,189.40. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 203,568 shares of company stock valued at $6,096,461 in the last three months. 12.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Braze Profile

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.