ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $80.93, but opened at $71.25. ePlus shares last traded at $73.29, with a volume of 23,971 shares changing hands.

The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.37). ePlus had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 11.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut ePlus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th.

Institutional Trading of ePlus

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 70.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,117,812 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $109,926,000 after acquiring an additional 463,621 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in ePlus by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,387,899 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $136,486,000 after purchasing an additional 229,837 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of ePlus by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 968,998 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $95,291,000 after purchasing an additional 164,016 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of ePlus in the 4th quarter worth $11,082,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 16.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 731,909 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $71,987,000 after buying an additional 105,526 shares during the period. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ePlus Stock Down 11.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.85, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $77.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.71.

ePlus Company Profile

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.