Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Monday . 1,920,196 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 35% from the previous session’s volume of 2,938,358 shares.The stock last traded at $31.6060 and had previously closed at $31.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BRZE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho cut their price target on Braze from $40.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Braze from $49.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $34.00 price target on shares of Braze and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Braze in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Braze from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.06.

Braze Trading Down 2.0%

The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of -27.50 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $25.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.48.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.10. The firm had revenue of $211.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.19 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 17.52% and a negative net margin of 15.51%.The firm’s revenue was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Braze, Inc. will post -0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Braze news, insider Astha Malik sold 15,724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.57, for a total transaction of $464,958.68. Following the sale, the insider owned 326,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,646,709.81. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 9,413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.99, for a total transaction of $282,295.87. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,195,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,844,617.81. This represents a 0.78% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 121,836 shares of company stock worth $3,489,331. 12.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Braze

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Braze by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,851,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,793,000 after purchasing an additional 892,635 shares during 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 valued at $68,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Braze by 28.8% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,320,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,197,000 after purchasing an additional 518,103 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in shares of Braze by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 2,187,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,002,000 after purchasing an additional 9,322 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its stake 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 worth $72,181,000 after buying an additional 1,801,019 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

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.