Braze Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:BRZE)

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 12,384 call options on the company. This is an increase of 678% compared to the average daily volume of 1,591 call options.

Braze Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of Braze stock opened at $32.78 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.02. Braze has a 52 week low of $15.26 and a 52 week high of $37.33. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of -29.27 and a beta of 0.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Astha Malik sold 33,656 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total transaction of $930,588.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 278,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,690,515.70. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 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 completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,143,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,120,320.93. This trade represents a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 203,568 shares of company stock worth $6,096,461. Insiders own 12.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Braze

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRZE. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in Braze by 3,650.0% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 825 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new position in shares of Braze in the first quarter valued at $27,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Braze during the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Braze by 821.1% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Braze during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. 90.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BTIG Research increased their price target on Braze from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. UBS Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Braze in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Braze from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $34.00 price target on shares of Braze and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Braze from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.76.

Braze Company 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.