Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,910,000 shares, an increase of 42.8% from the March 15th total of 4,140,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,310,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days. Currently, 8.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Braze Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BRZE opened at $29.21 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.24 and a 200-day moving average of $37.65. Braze has a 52 week low of $27.75 and a 52 week high of $48.33. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.62 and a beta of 1.13.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 27th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.07. Braze had a negative return on equity of 24.88% and a negative net margin of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $160.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $155.72 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. Braze’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Braze will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRZE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price target on shares of Braze and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Braze from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Braze in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Braze in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Braze from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Braze has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $52.50.

Insider Activity at Braze

In other Braze news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 5,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.82, for a total transaction of $212,672.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 157,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,441,804.20. This trade represents a 3.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.22, for a total value of $472,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 189,520 shares in the company, valued at $8,949,134.40. This represents a 5.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 65,937 shares of company stock worth $2,707,581. 24.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Braze

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Braze by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,464,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,476,423 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Braze by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,693,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,798,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Braze by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,309,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,711,000 after purchasing an additional 500,667 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Braze by 121.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,197,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Braze by 107.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,963,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,007 shares in the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Braze

Braze, Inc operates a customer engagement platform that provides interactions between consumers and brands worldwide. The company offers Braze software development kits that automatically manage data ingestion and deliver mobile and web notifications, in-application/in-browser interstitial messages, and content cards; REST API that can be used to import or export data or to trigger workflows between Braze and brands' existing technology stacks; Partner Data Integrations, which allow brands to sync user cohorts from partners; Data Transformation, in which brands can programmatically sync and transform user data; and Braze Cloud Data Ingestion that enables brands to harness their customer data.