StockNews.com Downgrades ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) to Hold

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

ePlus Stock Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ PLUS traded up $1.49 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $65.49. 313,328 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 217,401. ePlus has a fifty-two week low of $61.91 and a fifty-two week high of $106.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.14.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.37). ePlus had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 11.23%. Sell-side analysts predict that ePlus will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in shares of ePlus in the third quarter valued at $202,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of ePlus by 29.3% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 14,097 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,386,000 after purchasing an additional 3,195 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in ePlus by 43.9% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,121 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in ePlus by 80.4% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 7,681 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 3,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in ePlus by 19.8% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,387,899 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $136,486,000 after acquiring an additional 229,837 shares during the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is 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.